Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles and drones overnight, damaging energy infrastructure and prompting even more power blackouts, while Ukrainian drones reportedly struck deep inside Russian territory, setting oil installations on fire in two regions.
Ukraine's national power company, Ukrenerho, said early on June 20 that four regions were targeted in the latest wave of Russian drone and missile attacks.
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"Equipment was damaged at energy facilities in the Vinnytsya, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Kyiv regions," Ukrenerho said in a message on Telegram.
A thermal power plant sustained "serious damage" in the Russian strikes, according to Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK.
"This is already the seventh mass attack on the company's thermal power plant in the last three months," DTEK said on Telegram, without disclosing the location of the facility. It said three workers were injured in the attack.
The latest wave of Russian strikes has also increased the number of scheduled power outages for domestic consumers, Ukrenerho said, adding, however, that electricity supply for critical infrastructure will not be restricted.
Separately, the air force reported that Russia attacked Ukraine with nine missiles and 27 drones. Ukrainian air defenses shot down all the drones and five missiles, the military said.
Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure, causing enormous damage and limiting electricity supply for the civilian population, prompting regular blackouts.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy said during a June 20 meeting with senior Ukrainian military officials that he hopes to develop a renewable energy infrastructure in response to the attacks.
"All public and administrative buildings must be equipped with energy-saving technologies. Solar panels, smart meters, and energy storage facilities should appear in every school and hospital as soon as possible," Zelenskiy said.
In return, Ukrainian drones have struck deeper inside Russia, damaging energy facilities critical for Moscow's military effort, mainly oil installations.
On June 20, drones belonging to Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) struck a fuel and lubricants warehouse in Russia's Tambov region, some 400 kilometers southeast of Moscow, and a LUKoil oil depot in the North Caucasus region of Adygea, setting both on fire, a Ukrainian security source told RFE/RL.
The Baza channel, which is linked to Russian security services, confirmed that a fire had broken out at the Platonov oil depot in Tambov.
Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of the Russian region of Krasnodar, said a private house was completely destroyed, and a local resident was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Slavyansk-on-Kuban.
The SBU told RFE/RL that its drones had carried out almost three dozen successful attacks on Russian oil facilities in various regions since the start of the war.
None of the claims could be independently confirmed.