Ukraine warns of tough winter as Russia strikes kill 4 in Kyiv region

BELGRADE: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Saturday (Aug 8), during a visit to Belgrade, that Ukraine was facing a winter with basically no working thermal power plants as overnight Russian strikes left four dead, including a child, in the Kyiv region.

Speaking alongside his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, the Ukrainian leader said Moscow’s latest overnight attacks and shelling of frontline communities combined had killed 13 people in the last 24 hours.

“Russian missiles are aimed precisely at making the lives of Ukrainians unbearable,” Zelensky told reporters during his first official visit to Belgrade, highlighting that the attacks often target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Ukraine was left with “virtually no intact thermal power plants” as it braced for the upcoming heating season, Zelensky said. Those plants are important complements to the nuclear energy which also feeds its grid.

More than four years after the start of Russia’s large-scale offensive against Ukraine, the two warring countries are ramping up long-range strikes, causing a growing number of civilian casualties.

Moscow has significantly upped its attacks on the Ukrainian capital in recent months, typically firing salvos of hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles, with Ukraine pleading for more US-made Patriot interceptors and other Western air-defences.

Kyiv, in turn, has been firing record numbers of drones at Russia in retaliation.