Russian air strikes destroy Kyiv’s major power plant

In its latest major air strike, Russian missiles and drones destroyed a large power plant near Kyiv on Thursday. 

The strikes have also hit other power facilities in several regions of Ukraine. 

Since Russia's full-scale Ukraine invasion, the strikes have destroyed the Trypilska coal-powered thermal power plant near the capital.

The retaliatory strikes using drones and high-precision, long-range weapons from air and sea have hit fuel and energy facilities in Ukraine, said the Russian defence ministry.

The strikes were a response to Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia's oil, gas and energy facilities, it Saif

Since Russia renewed its long-range aerial assaults on the Ukrainian energy system last month, Kyiv's appeals for urgent air defence supplies from the West have grown increasingly desperate.

Ukraine's air force commander said air defences took down 18 of the incoming missiles and 39 drones. 

The attack used 82 missiles and drones in total, the military said.

The destroyed power plant outside Kyiv, a major power supplier for the capital and Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions, is the third and last facility owned by state-owned energy company Centrenergo, reported Reuters.

The Trypilska plant was the biggest energy facility near Kyiv and was built to have a capacity of 1,800-megawatt hours, more than the pre-war needs of Ukraine's biggest city.

In the wake of the recent attacks targeting power grids and sub-stations, the residents in the affected regions were asked to use minimum electricity.

Ukrenergo grid operator said its substations and power generating facilities had been damaged in attacks on the regions of Odesa, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv and Kyiv.