As winter approaches, Russian officials have said military forces plan to target Ukrainian energy facilities. The attacks aren’t just harming Ukraine’s military, with millions of Ukrainian civilians left without power, heat and water as temperatures plunge. The energy facilities have been repeatedly hit for weeks, and each attack risks plunging more Ukraine citizens into darkness.
At an event on Thursday at the Kremlin, Putin said Russia would continue attacking the energy facilities despite being criticized by other nations for his actions.
“There’s a lot of noise about our strikes on the energy infrastructure of a neighboring country. Yes, we do that. But who started it?” Putin said at the event, according to The Moscow Times, an independent online publication based in Amsterdam.
The attacks on energy facilities have greatly impacted Ukraine. One recent attack caused a blackout that shuttered a Ukrainian hospital in darkness in the middle of a child’s heart surgery.
After each attack, emergency blackouts are initiated so energy companies can attempt to repair the damage. One Ukrainian official said there was a shortage of energy in all of Ukraine’s regions, with the country lacking as much as one-third of what is needed to supply its people, according to Reuters.
On Wednesday, CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov of Naftogaz, Ukraine’s leading oil and gas supplier, said Russian attacks damaged 350 of the company’s natural gas facilities, causing a $700 million loss in gas production capacity, according to the Kyiv Independent.
The attacks have inspired Ukrainian allies to aid the nation in its energy shortage. On Thursday, The Kyiv Independent tweeted that a Turkish energy company agreed to supply Ukraine with electricity.
“Karpowership intends to provide Ukraine with electricity through floating power plants in Romania and Moldova, the Anadolu news agency reported, citing the company’s president, Zeynep Harezi,” the tweet said.
The extra electricity could supply up to 1 million households, the Kyiv Independent tweeted. Supply could begin in the next month.
Some are concerned that Russia is committing war crimes by attacking infrastructure that harms civilians, but BBC News reported last week that the attacks could be justified if the infrastructure also supplies the military with energy.
Some of the targeted attacks have killed or injured dozens of civilians, such as one in late November that killed six, injured 30 and destroyed critical civilian infrastructure in Kyiv that left many without power.
Russia has denied allegations of war crimes since its invasion on February 24.
