Missile Attack Destroys Ukrainian Solar Power Plant

Two Russian missiles hit a ground-based solar power plant near Kharkiv, Ukraine. According to the power station manager, the attack left a hole at the site that was 6 meters deep and 11 meters in diameter.

The Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reported that a Russian missile hit a ground-based solar power plant in the town of Merefa, near the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

The missile attack that hit the solar power plant occurred on the evening of May 28. Ukrinform quoted local media Suspilnie Kharkiv as saying that the project was built on a former landfill site under Ukraine’s long-term sustainable electricity price plan and has been in operation for about a year and a half. 

According to the power station manager Volodymyr Ronchakovsky, the attack left a large hole at the site with a depth of 6 meters and a diameter of 11 meters. The missiles were reportedly fired from Belgorod in western Russia.

In mid-March, the Ukrainian Renewable Energy Association said that 37 percent of the country’s ground-mounted solar project capacity was built in areas of armed conflict, and another 34 percent was built in adjacent areas. UARE reported the case of “documented sabotage” of solar panels and claimed that Russian forces “looted all the equipment of the power station – everything that could be stolen, taken away”.