Into darkness Russian assault on power grid is the strategy of nihilism

Russia's cynical decision to target Ukraine's network of hydroelectric power stations on Monday represents a further, dispiriting escalation in its efforts to destroy the country's power supply.

- Dan Sabbagh

The electricity network is reeling from three weeks of attacks focused on coal- and gas-fired power stations and, above all, the electricity substations that link up different parts of the grid. Power cuts are the new normal as winter looms.

It may not be clear how damaging Monday's attacks involving the two hydro plants on the Dnipro river and a third on the western Dniester are. But their targeting suggests Russia intends to push further in

its attempts to bomb Ukraine into darkness: before the war, hydro contributed around 14% of the country's energy capacity.

At the same time, Ukraine has warned that Russia has mined the Nova Kakhovka dam in the occupied south of the country - and that its retreating forces may yet blow it to cover a retreat from Kherson.

4bn

The monthly sum, in US dollars, that the IMF estimates Ukraine may need to borrow to get through next year