「ロシアによるウクライナへのエネルギー戦争は、2月24日には始まったわけではありませんでした――この日、4年前に始まったのです。東部ウクライナのDTEKルハンシク発電所――地域最大の発電所――にミサイルが命中した時です。」
そう、開戦の二日前に発電所が攻撃されたのだ。ロシアによる偽旗作戦。
russia's war on Ukraine's energy began not on 24th Feb – but on this day, four years ago, when missiles hit DTEK Luhanska power station in eastern Ukraine – the region's largest electricity producer.
Fires raged. The attack was deliberate: from the very first hours, the target was not just territory, but light itself.
Two days later, the full-scale invasion followed. Since then, russia has launched more than 220 strikes on DTEK's thermal energy assets. Yet for four years – and for twelve years since russia's first assault on Ukraine in 2014 – our engineers have held the energy frontline without pause: in mines, at power stations, repairing lines under fire, extracting gas through the night. Every restored megawatt is an act of resistance.
Today, on the fourth anniversary of that first strike, we honour every person who has kept the lights on for Ukraine – and we will keep doing so until the last.
Ukraine stands strong.