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Ukraine war: Blackout in 1,162 towns and villages after Russian attack

 


Ukrainian officials have said that more than a thousand towns and villages across Ukraine have no electricity after massive Russian attacks in recent days.

Emergency services spokesman Oleksandr Khorunzhi said more than 70 people had been killed in rocket and drone strikes since October 7.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said 30% of Ukraine's power stations had been destroyed in the past eight days.

Parts of the capital Kyiv have no electricity and water after a new strike on Tuesday.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said all three victims of the latest Russian attacks were employees of "critical infrastructure", adding that two facilities in the capital were affected.

Electricity and water were cut in Zhytomyr, west of the capital, and an energy facility was affected in the southeastern city of Dnipro.

At Tuesday's briefing in Kyiv, Mr Khorunzhi said: "In the period from 7 to 18 October, as a result of the shelling of energy facilities, about 4,000 settlements in 11 regions [of Ukraine] were cut off.

"Currently, according to the Ministry of Energy, 1,162 habitations do not have electricity," an emergency services spokesman said.

After suffering several painful defeats on the battlefield, Russia has in recent weeks intensified attacks on power infrastructure in cities far from the front lines.

Ukrainian emergency officials are rushing to repair the damage, but attacks before winter have raised concerns about how the system will respond.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the presidential office, said that "everyone should be prepared to save power, and second, if the strike continues a rolling power blackout is also possible".

"The whole population needs to be prepared for a cold winter."

Ukrainians are being urged not to use electrical equipment between 07:00 - 09:00 local time (04:00 - 06:00 GMT) and 17:00 - 22:00 local time.

• US says Iran's 'kamikaze' drones violate sanctions

• 13 killed in Russian warplane crash in apartment block

The latest attacks came 24 hours after "Kamikaze" drones - believed to have been supplied by Iran - killed at least nine people in Kyiv and Sumi in the northeast.

The extent to which drones were involved on Tuesday was not initially clear.

Ukraine said Russian bombers had fired missiles and an S-300 anti-aircraft missile struck a residential building in the southern city of Mykolaiv overnight, killing one person. The city's flower market was also destroyed.

In other attacks early Tuesday:

• In Zhytomyr, the mayor said that there is no electricity or water in the city and that hospitals are working on backup power

• 11 villages in the Zhytomyr region were also without electricity, officials said.

• Electricity and water supplies were disrupted in the central city of Dnipro, where a major power facility was destroyed, and officials said street lights would be turned off

• Shelling was reported in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv

• Infrastructure was affected in the southern city of Zaporizhzhya, although local officials said no one was hurt.

In some cities, Ukrainians are buying electric generators and gas burners. Some cities are already facing rolling blackouts.

In a separate development, Ukraine's state nuclear power company accused Moscow of kidnapping two senior officials at its nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhya.

The Russian military occupies Europe's largest plant, but Ukrainian workers continue to work there in difficult conditions.


We were hoping that Russia would intensify attacks on energy infrastructure and civilian infrastructure and escalate urban warfare towards autumn – and here we are with exactly that scenario,” Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasilenko told the BBC.

In its latest assessment, UK defense intelligence said it was highly likely that Russia had been prepared to attack civilian infrastructure in addition to military targets since its failures on the battlefield.

Russia's missile and drone strikes have prompted renewed calls for the Ukrainian government to deliver air defense missiles.

Earlier, the US said it agreed with its French and UK allies that Iran's supply of drones violated a UN Security Council resolution on the nuclear deal that blocked the transfer of some military technology. Is.

Ukraine has identified the drone used in the deadly attacks on Kyiv and Sumy as the Shaheed-136 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). He is known in Russia as Geran-2.

Vedanta Patel of the US State Department said Washington would not hesitate to use sanctions. The European Union said it was gathering evidence and was ready to act.

Both Russia and Iran have denied that Iranian drones were deployed.

However, Western officials in Ukraine said there was no doubt that the drones came from Iran and it was clear that Russia wanted to attack the power network.


Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba said he would ask President Zelensky to break diplomatic ties with Tehran. He also said that an official note would be sent to Israel appealing for immediate air defense supplies.

Israeli authorities have so far stopped sending weapons to Kyiv. A Russian security figure, Dmitry Medvedev, has warned that if he did, relations with Moscow would be destroyed.

Meanwhile, in the largest prisoner swap since Russia's war began in February, 218 prisoners were exchanged - including 108 Ukrainian women.

And across the Azov Sea from Ukraine, a Russian fighter plane crashed in the courtyard of a block of flats in the southern Russian city of Yeysk. At least 13 people, including three children, died, while dozens of residents were rescued from the nine-storey block.

The pilots aboard the Su-34 plane ejected.

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