Russia’s Defense Ministry said it is planning “massive strikes” on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, days after launching a devastating attack on a warehouse near Kyiv, amplifying fears of another winter assault,
CNBC reports.
In a post published Sunday via Telegram, Russia’s Defense Ministry framed the planned attacks as a response to the continued Ukrainian strikes against Russian energy sites.
“In accordance with the received instructions, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation began preparing to launch massive strikes against Ukrainian energy facilities as a response to the continuing attacks of the Kiev regime against the Russian civil infrastructure and fuel and energy facilities,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said, according to a Google translation.
The warning comes as the death toll from a Russian strike on a warehouse west of Kyiv on Friday evening rose to 38, with four people missing, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukrainian officials said the strike, which marks the deadliest Russian attack in Ukraine so far this year, hit an ammunition storage facility in the village of Myla, triggering fires and explosions.
Emergency workers have extinguished most of the fires, Zelenskyy said, describing the incident as a “terrible situation” and a consequence of “terrible negligence on the part of those who stored explosives right next to people.”
Ukraine’s president said Saturday that an investigation had been launched to understand how and why the ammunition came to be housed there.
