Shelling of Ukraine: Expert outlines purpose of Russian strike
Illustrative photo: Russian forces launched a massive strike on Ukraine (Getty Images)
Russian forces, through a massive shelling, attempted to cut off Ukraine's nuclear power plants from the country's energy system. They succeeded only partially, states Volodymyr Omelchenko, Director of Energy Programs at the Razumkov Center, in a comment to the RBC-Ukraine YouTube channel.
He emphasized that it is still difficult to assess the damage caused by today's strike. However, it can be stated that the damage is "quite significant."
"The main idea of today's terrorist attack by Russia was to cut off Ukraine's nuclear power plants, which are the primary energy source, providing up to 60% of the electricity in the system. They wanted to sever this resource from Ukraine's unified energy grid. We see that they partially succeeded, but only partially. In principle, the system is under control," emphasized Omelchenko.
According to him, the Russian forces are now trying to destroy Ukraine's energy system as quickly as possible, as they are approaching the end of the "rules of the game" that have been established between the current US administration and the Kremlin.
"These rules were extremely disadvantageous for Ukraine. And what the rules will be under a new administration is unknown. Therefore, Russia is in a hurry to take advantage of this window of opportunity, which is closing very quickly," he added.
Massive shelling on November 28
Russian army used 188 drones and missiles to strike Ukraine on November 28. The target of the attack was Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Ukrainian defenders managed to shoot down 76 cruise missiles and 35 attack drones.
However, in several regions, power supply issues began after the attack. Detailed information about the consequences is available in the RBC-Ukraine material.
