A key power plant near Kyiv was completely destroyed by Russian strikes early on Thursday, said the energy company, Centrenergo, reported BBC. 


According to officials, Trypillya power plant was the largest electricity provider for three regions, including Kyiv. 


"The scale of destruction is terrifying," said Centrenergo chairman Andriy Hota.


"They destroyed 100%", Hota told BBC, adding that the Thursday's morning strikes destroyed "the transformer, the turbines, the generators."


Following the large-scale airborne attack, a fire broke out in the turbine workshop of the Trypillya plant - located 50km (31 miles) to the south of Kyiv. 


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Hota said that the plant was targeted by multiple missiles and the staff on the shift were able to escape because they ran for cover as soon as the first drone hit. 


Residents were urged to shut their windows, charge all their devices and stock up on water, the BBC report added. 


Over 80 missiles and drones targeted sites across Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday, the report added. 


Centrenergo confirmed, hours later, that its Trypillya plant had been put out of use and Hota said that his company's entire generative capacity in Ukraine was now destroyed. 


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As per the BBC report, it was the largest providers of electricity and heat in Ukraine which operated two other power plants. The first one was in Kharkiv which was destroyed in late March, and another in an area of the Donetsk region that was taken over by Russia in 2022.


According to the Centrenergo chief, the Kharkiv and the Trypillya plants used to generate some 8% of the country's electricity.  The Trypillya thermal plant provided power to the three central regions of Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and Kyiv.


He believed that the destruction of the Trypillya plant would not be a critical issue for the country in summer, but by winter it would become a "giant problem".