San Francisco Frontiers - Ukraine's Zelensky says Russia seeking 'chaos' with new energy strikes

Moscow, whose forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, has escalated aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities and rail systems over recent weeks, spurring power outages and train delays.

"Russia's task is to create chaos and apply psychological pressure on the population through strikes on energy facilities and railways," Zelensky told journalists, including AFP, in comments released under embargo on Thursday.

He said later he was dispatching his prime minister and a senior sanctions advisor to the United States for talks early next week on air defence, energy, sanctions, as well as negotiations with Russia and frozen Russian assets.

The recent attacks mirror similar Russian bombing campaigns in the winters of 2022, 2023 and 2024 that left millions of Ukrainians without energy or heating for long periods.

His comments came just hours after fresh Russian attacks damaged energy infrastructure in the southern Black Sea region of Odesa, where port facilities were also struck.

And they came just hours before the mayor of the frontline town of Sloviansk called on residents to leave, citing Russian attacks on energy and heating facilities.

Zelensky said that Russian attacks this year had already put Ukrainian gas infrastructure under "heavy pressure" and that more strikes could force his country to ramp up imports.

- Children ordered to flee -

Ukraine has also recently stepped up its own drone and missile strikes on Russian territory in a campaign that Zelensky said was showing "results" and that has also increased fuel prices in Russia.

"We believe that they've lost up to 20 percent of their gasoline supply –- directly as a result of our strikes," Zelensky said, adding there was evidence Russia had stepped up imports from China and Belarus.

Russian forces meanwhile have been steadily pushing forward across the sprawling front line, forcing Ukraine on Thursday to announce the evacuation of children from parts of Kramatorsk, a civilian hub and logistics centre in eastern Ukraine.

The town had a pre-war population of around 147,000 people and lies approximately 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the front line in the Donetsk region, where the Kremlin has concentrated its firepower.

Russia in late 2022 claimed to have annexed the industrial region alongside three others -- despite not having full military control over them. Kramatorsk's population has since dipped to around 50,000 people, officials have said.

The authorities cited in their evacuation order an uptick in Russian attacks with small, cheap first-person-view drones that have dramatically changed the character of fighting across the front line over recent months.

The orders point to systemic problems facing the Ukrainian army, which has been struggling to hold back a better-armed and larger army.

The mayor of nearby Sloviansk also on Thursday urged residents to leave the city, as least for the colder winter months, since Russia had stepped up attacks on heating facilities.

"Especially elderly people and families with children -- it is time to evacuate. At least for the period of the heating season. Because we see that the enemy is targeting the energy system," Vadym Lyakh said in a post on social media.

Seven people were earlier wounded in strikes on the town, officials said.

Ukraine meanwhile recently struck a power station in the Russian border region of Belgorod, causing power outages.

The Ukrainian military said Thursday it had also struck energy facilities -- including a gas processing plant -- in the Volgograd region in southern Russia.

S.Jackson--SFF