Russia Ukraine braces itself for Russian attacks on energy targets

Ukraine is preparing to fend off further Russian airstrikes on its energy production.

"We also discussed the threat that we now see from Russia for our power generation. We will counteract this," President Volodymyr Zelensky assured in his daily video message. Earlier, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko had reported on protective structures for energy plants, among other things.

EU Commission President in Kiev

With winter approaching, energy supply was also a topic of discussion with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had traveled to Kiev. According to Selenskyj, an agreement was reached on the expansion of electricity imports from the EU. "This is what will definitely support our country and our population in difficult situations," said the head of state. He did not give any details.

According to Ukrainian data, 1.7 gigawatts can currently be imported from the EU and its south-western neighbor Moldova. The government had previously stated an increase to over 2.2 gigawatts as a target. Steps were also discussed with von der Leyen to help "maintain at least a quarter of our electricity generation".

The further EU integration of the Eastern European country was also discussed. "We need to speed up the process of talks on membership and the preparation of the relevant parts of the future (accession) agreement," urged Selenskyj.

Von der Leyen also held talks with Prime Minister Shmyhal and Defense Minister Rustem Umyerov. According to a government statement, the Ukrainian leadership hopes that the EU will once again transfer financial aid amounting to 16 billion euros to the country, which has been torn apart by Russia's war of aggression, in the coming year. This year, 12 billion of the planned 16 billion have already been received. Shmyhal also proposed doubling the financial aid for his country in the EU budget for 2028 to 2034 to 400 billion euros and introducing a separate budget program for Ukraine.

Together with Umjerow, von der Leyen opened the EU Defense Innovation Office, which aims to intensify cooperation between the EU and Ukraine in the field of armaments. The main areas mentioned were weapons production and developments in the IT sector.

Speculation about redundancies in the Ministry of Defense

Meanwhile, further personnel changes are apparently underway in the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. According to consistent media reports, two deputies of military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov have been dismissed by Defense Minister Umjerov. The dismissal had already taken place last week without consulting Budanov. According to the reports, the personnel move was initiated by Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak, who wanted to weaken the head of military intelligence.

According to the news portal "Ukrajinska Pravda", Umjerov is also said to want to dismiss or have already dismissed around 20 generals and high-ranking employees. Neither Umyerov nor Budanov commented on the reports.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense is reporting an alleged increase in recruitment figures. "On average, 6,500 volunteers are recruited in the country every month," the ministry's plenipotentiary, Olexij Beschewez, was quoted as saying after the opening of a recruitment center in Cherkassy in central Ukraine. From cooks to drone pilots, more than 10,000 vacancies are currently being advertised in the army, national guard and border guard. According to the ministry, it has already set up a total of 38 such recruitment centers across the country. The ministry did not provide any information on the general enlistment figures.

Recordings of violent recruitment

At the same time, footage of violent recruitment continues to make the rounds on social media on a daily basis, with men being beaten and kicked by uniformed men and dragged into minibuses. Passers-by who happen to be present often show solidarity with the victims. Nevertheless, the media repeatedly report an acute shortage of soldiers on the front line after more than two and a half years of fighting back against the Russian invasion. Although a stricter mobilization law has been in force since May, only men between the ages of 25 and 60 are currently being called up for military service.