Ukraine launched a nationwide turnaround power outage on Thursday, directly caused by a massive Russian airstrike that severely damaged Ukraine¡¯s energy infrastructure, bringing the already tense energy supply to a critical state.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported the scale of the air strike: the Russian army dispatched 320 drones and 37 missiles, targeting multiple strategic locations in Ukraine. The Ukrainian air defense forces intercepted them with all their might and ultimately shot down 283 drones and 5 missiles.

The interception rate did not seem to be low, but ammunition with leaked networks caused critical damage, which hit energy facilities with accuracy, becoming a direct source of subsequent power outages.

From this interception results can be seen that the Ukrainian air defense system is doing its best to respond, but in the face of such a large-scale attack, it is still difficult to full defense, air defense pressure always exists.

The damage caused by air strikes is not only the facilities themselves, but also directly transmitted to the lives of ordinary people.

The focus of the attack was on the gas facilities in eastern Ukraine, known to be the main production areas of Ukrainian gas, which, once damaged, the entire country¡¯s energy supply networks seemed to be stuck in the throat and immediately interrupted.

The state power company said in a statement that "the situation in the energy system is extremely critical and can only be implemented emergency power outages nationwide."

Sergei Koletsky, CEO of Naftogaz, a state-owned natural gas company in Ukraine, revealed the situation more specifically. He said that the attack caused damage in multiple areas at the same time. Some important facilities were damaged to the point where they could not operate, and key equipment had to be stopped.

In this case, the residents of several cities such as Kharkov first encountered the difficulties of non-electric availability, the lights in the home did not turn on, electrical appliances could not be used, and the rhythm of life was suddenly disrupted.

The impact of an attack on energy facilities is closer to ordinary people than a simple military strike, because it is directly related to the basic daily life.

This model of concentrated attacks on energy facilities by the Russian army is not the first time, but a tactic of "focused attacks in autumn and winter" that has gradually formed since the conflict broke out in February 2022.

Take 2023 as an example. In the three months from October to December of that year, the Russian military launched 15 rounds of large-scale air strikes on Ukraine's energy facilities.

I think the intention of this tactic is very clear. It is to target the weak points of people's livelihood in winter. Heating and more electricity are needed in winter. Once energy facilities are destroyed and heating and power supply cannot keep up, people's living comfort will be greatly reduced, which in turn may affect the resistance morale of the entire society.

This year's attacks, regardless of the number of drones and missiles, as well as the extent of damage to facilities, were more severe than in previous years, and it can be seen that the Russian military's tactical efforts are still escalating.

In the face of Russian attacks, Ukraine has also taken targeted counter-actions.

The Ukrainian army focused its counterattack on Russia and Russian-controlled areas. On the one hand, it targeted the logistics routes and refineries that support Russian operations in an attempt to weaken the Russian army's war support capabilities; on the other hand, in the Russian-controlled Kherson region, the Ukrainian army's military operations also caused power outages to nearly 100,000 local residents.

Prior to the Russian-controlled areas of Zaporozhye and Helsinki, the Ukrainian military also launched several drone attacks on local power plants, the worst of which caused more than 700,000 households to fail.

In fact, a helpless reality can be found here. In the confrontation between the two sides around energy facilities, it is often ordinary people in the two places who suffer in the end. Whether it is a Ukrainian-controlled area or a Russian-controlled area, residents may suffer from inconvenience due to damage to facilities. The harm of this confrontation model to people's livelihood is actually two-way.

At the same time as the energy crisis exacerbates people's livelihoods, the dynamics in the diplomatic field are also quietly changing, and this airstrike took place precisely at the key hub of Russian-Ukrainian peace talks and the active intervention of the United States.

U.S. Vice President Wences previously made it clear that "Russia has not yet the conditions for peace talks"; on the other hand, U.S. President Donald Trump is planning to host Ukrainian President Zelensky to consult specifically on related matters of support to Ukraine; more concerned is that the two presidents of Russia and the United States have agreed to meet in Budapest in the coming weeks.

I think the contradiction here is highlighted, Ukraine, because of the energy crisis, urgently needs external assistance to ease the pressure of domestic livelihoods, which will make it more inclined to fight for support in subsequent diplomatic interactions.

Russia may use the energy strike as a key in the negotiations, forcing Ukraine to make concessions on certain issues with the pressure of people¡¯s livelihoods; as for the United States, its attitude and the intensity of its support to Ukraine are likely to be one of the key variables in influencing the course of peace talks.

The people's livelihood problems brought about by the energy crisis have virtually added another layer of urgency to the already complicated diplomatic mediation, and also made the uncertainty of negotiations higher.

Overall, this rotating power outage across Ukraine is not just a simple energy failure, but also a concentrated expression of the chain reaction of "military strike-energy crisis-impact on people's livelihood-diplomatic game" in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

On the one hand, the Russian army has continued and upgraded its tactics of attacking energy facilities in autumn and winter, trying to influence Ukraine through people's livelihood pressure; on the other hand, Ukraine's counterattack has also made energy facilities the core goal of the confrontation between the two sides, and the cost of people's livelihood continues to increase.

On the diplomatic level, the intervention of the United States and the upcoming meeting between Russia and the United States have given this energy crisis more room for political interpretation.

In the future, military defense alone may not be enough to alleviate Ukraine¡¯s energy difficulties, and the international community will need to provide substantial assistance in terms of energy equipment, technical support, etc., to help Ukraine repair damaged facilities and restore energy supplies as soon as possible.

More importantly, only by allowing Russia and Ukraine to find a balance of interests through diplomatic negotiations can we fundamentally avoid energy facilities being repeatedly targeted and reduce the impact on people's livelihood.

After all, no matter how the conflict leads, ensuring the basic living needs of ordinary people should be a priority for all parties.