Reuters Russia’s missile attacks force Ukraine to shut down nuclear power plants 11/23/2022 12:53

As Moscow continues its campaign to drown Ukrainian cities in darkness and cold as winter approaches, Russia launched missiles across Ukraine on Wednesday, forcing nuclear power plants to shut down and killing civilians.

Officials at the Moldovan border said it was the first time a neighboring state has reported such massive damage from the war in Ukraine, triggered by the Russian invasion nine months ago, with electricity cut off in more than half of their country.

State nuclear power company Energoatom said the reactors at the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine and the Khmelnitskyi and Rivne power plants in the west were shut down due to power outages.

“Currently they (power units) are operating in project mode with no generation in the domestic power system,” Energoatom said.

Air raid sirens sounded throughout Ukraine as a national alarm. Explosions were heard from the outskirts of Kiev, which was plunged into darkness. Municipal officials reported that one person was killed and another injured as a result of the collision of a two-story building.

The regional governor said earlier on the Telegram messaging service that Russian missiles hit a maternity hospital in the Zaporizhzhia region, killing a baby. Explosions were also reported in other cities where information on casualties was not immediately available.

Since October, Russia has publicly acknowledged that Ukraine has targeted civilian power and heating systems with long-range missiles and drones. Moscow says the goal is to reduce Kiev’s combat capability and force it to negotiate; Ukraine alleges that attacks on infrastructure are a war crime with the intention of deliberately harming civilians.

Like Ukraine, a former Soviet republic once dominated by Moscow, Moldova has long worried about the possibility of conflict spreading beyond its borders.

“Major power outage in Moldova following Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure today,” Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spuni said on Twitter, adding that the grid operator is trying to “reconnect more than 50% of the country to power”.

Sharing the same language as neighboring NATO member Romania, Moldova has a pro-Western government that aims to join the European Union. Russian troops occupied parts of Moldova along the Ukrainian border, which has been claimed by pro-Russian separatists for 30 years.

With the first snowfall of Ukraine’s often freezing winter, officials fear power outages will affect millions of people.

In an overnight video speech, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that special “invincibility centers” will be established in Ukraine, which will provide electricity, heat, water, internet, mobile phone connections and a pharmacy for free 24 hours a day.

The attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities came after a series of Russian setbacks on the battlefield, which this month resulted in the withdrawal from the southern city of Kherson to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, which runs through the country.

A week after Kherson was recaptured by Ukrainian forces, residents were tearing down Russian propaganda billboards and replacing them with pro-Ukrainian posters.