Fire at a thermal power plant in Kiev on October 18

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Russian strikes have caused 30% of Ukraine’s power stations to have been destroyed beyond repair in the last eight days.

This resulted in massive power outages across the country.

CHP-6 in Kiev after today's arrivals. I'll leave it to the qualified to assess how bad the damage is. pic.twitter.com/QrgdG8sJ5u
— Ghost (@mdfzeh) October 18, 2022

Ukraine had undertaken several attempted attacks on the Zaparozhye nuclear power plant but all had been foiled so far. It wasn't until the Crimean bridge attack took place that Russia decided to initiate to retaliate by targeting Ukraine's infrastructure.

Footage of the hits on Kiev CHP-6 pic.twitter.com/2bS3OLATa6
— Dr.Snekotron (@snekotron) October 18, 2022

On October 14, President Vladimir Putin told reporters that Russia may exit the grain deal if the investigation on the sabotage of the Crimean bridge confirms that the explosives were smuggled on one of the grain trucks.

However a day later, UN Coordinator for the Black Sea grain deal, Amir Mahmoud Abdulla, stated that the grain agreement will not only be extended but may also be expanded.

Yesterday, a Russian diplomat at the UN First Committee Konstantin Vorontsov said that Russia absolutely does not consider the possibility of demilitarizing the Zaparozhye nuclear power plant, as well as surrounding areas, due to the facility's need for protection.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had called on September 6 for the establishment of a security zone around the power plant following an offensive by Kiev.

On October 13, Russian authorities said they detained several saboteurs as they were trying to sabotage and blow up a part of the TurkStream pipeline that is on Russian territory.

On October 16, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Tuesday that six power line poles with connections to the Kursk nuclear power plant (NPP) in western Russia were blown up by the Ukrainian saboteurs.

Yesterday, Putin said during a television broadcast that Russia's response to any further Ukrainian attacks would be "severe" and that "It was not possible to leave [Ukrainian attacks] unanswered. If attempts at terrorist attacks continue, the response from Russia will be severe and correspond to the level of threat."

"Let there be no doubt about it," he added.

On October 12, Zelenski told the World Bank on Wednesday that Kiev requires $2 billion in targeted credits to rebuild the country’s electric energy infrastructure.

Earlier today, a US defense official told CNN that the Pentagon is trying to accelerate the delivery of two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) to Ukraine.

See this: What the West has given Ukraine so far