Russian Strikes Hit Ukraine Power Plants, Kill Two

Russia hit energy infrastructure across Ukraine in the largest attack in more than a month as US President Donald Trump made a push to enlist China into helping to end the war.

Moscow forces used more than 650 drones and over 50 missiles during the strike, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram on Thursday. Two people were killed and dozens injured in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia where a dormitory was hit, he said.

The attack seriously damaged several thermal power plants owned by Ukraine’s biggest private energy company DTEK, the company said on Telegram without providing locations.

The overnight Russian barrage took place just hours after Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the first time since his return to the White House. Ukraine came up “very strongly” in the conversation, Trump told reporters on board Air Force One after the meeting in Busan, South Korea.

“We agree that the sides are locked in fighting and sometimes you have to let them fight, I guess. Crazy,” Trump said of his meeting with Xi. “But he’s gonna help us and we’re gonna work together on Ukraine.”

Russia has ramped up its strikes against Ukraine’s power facilities across Ukraine as it tries to disrupt the country’s energy system ahead of winter. Meanwhile, Moscow’s troops continue a grinding assault along the frontline and have closed in on the strategically important eastern town of Pokrovsk.

The latest strikes appeared to be focused on western Ukraine. Two power facilities were damaged in the Lviv region, according to a post by local governor Maksym Kozytskyi on Telegram. Multiple explosions were heard in the town of Burshtyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, location of a major thermal power plant, the Suspilne news outlet reported.

Neighboring Poland scrambled fighter jets, a usual procedure when Russian drones and missiles reach areas of western Ukraine which border the NATO member state. Poland temporarily closed airports in Radom and Lublin in the country’s east.