Russia launched a “massive” missile strike at Ukraine overnight, damaging four power plants in the latest barrage targeting the country’s energy supply, officials in Kyiv said yesterday, after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Friday announced that the US would provide Ukraine with additional Patriot missiles.
Two people were killed and at least 10 more were wounded in the Russian shelling.
Moscow has launched some of its largest ever strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities in the past few months, knocking out a significant chunk of production, and triggering blackouts and energy rationing across the country.
Photo: Reuters
Ukraine also launched more than 60 drones at southern Russia overnight, Moscow said, in one of its largest overnight drone attacks.
Kyiv said it hit two oil refineries and a military air base.
“Russian armed forces staged another massive missile attack on Ukraine,” the Ukrainian army said in its regular morning update.
“The enemy has once again attacked the country’s energy infrastructure. In particular, facilities in Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv regions were attacked. There is damage to equipment,” Ukrainian Minister of Energy German Galushchenko wrote on Facebook.
The Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions are in Ukraine’s west, bordering the EU and hundreds of kilometers from the front lines.
Ukraine’s air force said Moscow had fired 34 missiles, 21 of which were shot down.
Kyiv says Moscow is escalating its attacks from the air and on land ahead of nationwide celebrations on May 9, when Russia marks victory in World War II.
Ukraine also launched its own massive drone attack on Russia’s southern Krasnodar region overnight.
A Ukrainian defense source said its drones had hit two oil refineries and a military airfield in the region, just east of the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
“Ukrainian drones struck the atmospheric distillation columns of the Ilsky and Slovyansky refineries. These are key technological facilities,” the source said.
Russian officials in the Krasnodar region reported a fire at an oil refinery in the town of Slavyansk-on-Kuban.
The refinery partially suspended operations as a result, Russian state media reported.
Meanwhile, the Patriot missiles the US is offering are part of a massive US$6 billion additional aid package. They are be used to replenish previously supplied Patriot systems.
The package also includes more munitions for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and gear to integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles and radars into Ukraine’s existing weaponry, much of which still dates back to the Soviet era.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed the need for Patriots early on Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of about 50 countries gathering virtually in a Pentagon-led meeting.
“It’s not just Patriots that they need; they need other types of systems and interceptors as well,” Austin said. “I would caution us all in terms of making Patriot the silver bullet.”
Austin said he is asking allied nations to “accept a little bit more risk,” as they consider what weapons to send to Ukraine.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS