Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of using Iranian-made drones to target the Khmelnytsky nuclear facility which would dramatically impact the country’s electrical grid before the long winter months. 

Zelensky said the Russians used Iranian-designed Shahed drones in the western Khmelnytsky region. 

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the plant’s output was not impacted by the explosions that shook an area near the facilities. He called the explosions a reminder of the nuclear threat in the region as the war continues. 

The BBC reported that the plant has two reactors. One of the reactors has been shut down since August.

Zelensky said his country is prepared for Russia to attack its electric grid and will respond in kind.

“We are preparing for terrorist attacks on our energy infrastructure. This year we will not only defend ourselves, but also respond,” he said.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia employed 70 missiles and drones in the attack, The New Voice of Ukraine reported. Ukraine said it managed to intercept 57 of these systems.

Euronews, Ukrainian state-owned grid operator, Ukrenergo, reported that last year, Russian forces fired more than 1,200 missiles and drones at Ukrainian power plants.

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of Ukrenergo, told The Kyiv Independent that there will be no quick fix.

“Such solutions for protection against missiles and Shahed-type drones simply didn’t exist in the world, they had to be invented,” he said.

TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has reported extensively on how Ukrainians and Russians have pointed fingers at each other for taking aggressive action near nuclear facilities. Kyiv has called these attacks energy terrorism, and Russia has blamed Ukrainian forces for staging false flag attacks. (See “RUSSIA ATTACKS IAEA FOR FAILING TO BLAME UKRAINE FOR SHELLING NEAR THE UKRAINIAN NUCLEAR PLANT” 20 Sep 2022, “CHERNOBYL 2.0. RUSSIA ACCUSES UKRAINE OF ATTACKING NUKE PLANT,” 16 Aug 2022, “IAEA: ‘SERIOUS SITUATION.’ NUKE CATASTROPHE ON THE NEAR HORIZON” 13 Sep 2022, and “TOP RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT SEES NO END IN SIGHT FOR UKRAINE WAR.” 23 Aug 2022.)

The New York Times reported that Zelensky is in a better position now than he was last year since he now has long-range missiles from the U.S., U.K., and France that can hit deeper inside Russia for potential tit-for-tat strikes on the energy grid.

The paper said Russia was brutally efficient in taking out these energy targets, including 61 percent of Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity last year. Russia was also accused of targeting the water supply.

(It should be noted that Presstitute reports calling the Russian invasion in Ukraine a “full-scale” war were nothing more than “full-scale” propaganda. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is showing you how ruthless a dictator can be while conducting a “full-scale” war as Israel commits outright genocide on the Palestinian people and destroys Gaza.)

Thus, compared to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who rejected peace talks and said, “this is a time for war” and “We’re going to fight in the air, ground and we are going to fight and win”—the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin exhibit some measures of restraint.