Baerbock accuses Putin of targeted terror against Ukrainian civilians

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of targeted terror against the infrastructure and civilian population in Ukraine.

"The fact that this terror against the infrastructure is continuing after this winter shows that the Russian president wants to destroy the country, wants to destroy people's lives here," she said on Tuesday during a visit to one of Ukraine's largest power stations.

Baerbock had been briefed by Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko on the situation at the power plant, which was destroyed last month.

Galushchenko said that Russia had fired a total of 11 missiles at the site. Of these, only six were shot down by the Ukrainian air defence system because there were no more anti-aircraft missiles available.

In view of the air defence shortages in Ukraine, the German minister appealed "to international partners worldwide that we need more air defence to protect not only large cities, but also the infrastructure."

Even in the warm spring days, the power supply in Ukraine had to be reduced because the central coal-fired power plants had been hit by targeted attacks, she said.