A solar power station located in the Odesa Oblast of southwestern Ukraine was struck by Russian drones over the weekend.
The incident, which took place on the night of Nov. 15 to 16, caused a fire to break out and the solar power plant to be damaged, according to a statement published by the Odesa Regional Military Administration.
While local press states the event caused power outages in several districts, the region’s State Emergency Services confirmed that a team of 23 firefighters promptly eliminated the fire, with no casualties or injuries reported.
As a result of the strike essential services including life support facilities and other critical infrastructure were switched to backup power, the administration added.
The attack on the solar plant is part of a broader pattern of activity that has seen Russia target Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
On the night of Nov. 7 to 8, Russia launched direct ballistic missile and drone attacks which Ukraine’s Energy Minister, Svitlana Hrynchuk, has since called one of the largest missile attacks on energy facilities since the war began. Hundreds of drones were launched that evening, damaging energy infrastructure across the regions of Kyiv, Poltava and Kharkiv and killing seven people.
The incident left much of Ukraine facing widespread power cuts, with some areas facing outages lasting up to 16 hours per day while repair work is ongoing.
The Ministry of Energy’s latest update, posted earlier today, said repair and restoration work is underway on damaged energy infrastructure facilities in the regions of Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odessa and Donetsk. It added that hourly outage schedules and capacity limitation schedules for industrial consumers and businesses continue to apply to most regions of Ukraine.
A number of projects in Ukraine are working to support the areas targeted by Russia’s attacks on energy infrastructure by deploying solar projects.
In September, three solar systems were switched on in the west Ukrainian city of Chortkiv to power water supply and wastewater facilities. In the same month, the northeastern town of Slobozhanske inaugurated a solar-plus-storage system to support the local hospital. It is one of eleven projects completed by charitable foundation RePower Ukraine to date.
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