Russia bombs Ukraine’s energy grid after Zelenskyy says his team will hold talks with US

Kyiv, March 7: Russia targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in a large-scale missile and drone bombardment during the night, officials said Friday, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said talks with the US on ending the 3-year war will take place next week.
Ukraine came under a “massive missile and drone” attack, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko wrote on Facebook. At least 10 people, including a child, were injured, authorities said.
“Russia is trying to hurt ordinary Ukrainians by striking energy and gas production facilities, without abandoning its goal of leaving us without light and heat, and causing the greatest harm to ordinary citizens,” Halushchenko wrote.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power grid during the war. The attacks have depleted electricity generation capacity and disrupted critical heating and water supplies. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of “weaponising winter” in an effort to erode civilian morale.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the energy supply is a legitimate target in the war because it is “linked with Ukraine’s military industrial complex and weapons production”.
Russian air defences downed 39 Ukrainian drones overnight, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.
Ukraine’s largest private gas producer, DTEK, said the overnight bombardment was Russia’s sixth attack in the past two and a half weeks on its facilities.
Russia fired 67 missiles from air, land and sea and launched 194 strike and decoy drones, Ukraine’s air force said. Their primary target was Ukraine’s natural gas extraction facilities, it said.
For the first time, Ukraine deployed French Mirage-2000 warplanes delivered a month ago to help repel the attack, according to the air force. Ukraine also has Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets to shoot down Russian missiles.
Ukrainian defences downed 34 missiles and 100 drones, the air force said, while up to 10 missiles didn’t reach their targets and 86 drones were lost from radars, presumably jammed by electronic warfare.
Western-supplied air defence systems are crucial for Ukraine’s fight but further US help is uncertain under US President Donald Trump, who says he is determined to end the war and has paused American military aid for Kyiv as a way of pressuring Zelenskyy to negotiate.
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy said Thursday he would travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet the country’s crown prince, and his team would stay on to hold talks with US officials.
Zelenskyy welcomed a European Union plan to bolster the continent’s defences. He expressed hope that some of the new spending could be used to strengthen Ukraine’s own defence industry.
Hungary to poll citizens on Ukraine’s EU membership
Hungary will poll its citizens on Ukraine’s potential future membership in the European Union, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday, a day after he refused to endorse an EU statement on support for Kyiv that was backed by the bloc’s 26 other leaders.
In statements to state radio, Orbán said EU plans to fill the gap left by apparent cuts to American support for Kyiv by the administration of President Trump would damage the bloc’s economy. He reiterated his position that EU membership for Ukraine would come down to whether Hungary approves it or not.
EU membership for Ukraine would mean that “Europe will be destroyed, including the Hungarian economy,” he said. “This process must be stopped in time.” As a way of shoring up support for Orbán’s stance, the government will issue a “national consultation,” a form of political campaign conducted periodically by Orbán’s right-wing populist government in the form of an informal questionnaire sent to every adult in the country.
Poland plans military training for all adult males
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday that his government is working on a plan to prepare large-scale military training for every adult male in response to the changing security situation in Europe.
Tusk told the country’s Sejm, the lower house of parliament, that the military training would create a reserve force that is “adequate to possible threats”.
The speech was focused on the international security situation. Poland is located along NATO’s eastern flank and is deeply concerned by the war in Ukraine. There are fears that if Ukraine is defeated, Russia will turn its imperial ambitions to countries like Poland, which it controlled during the 19th century and during the Cold War.
Concern has grown as President Trump has shifted the US position from being a defender of Ukraine to withholding military aid and intelligence and signalling a support for Russia’s position. (AP)