Russian missile and drone strikes cause widespread power outages across Ukraine – Firstpost

All Ukrainian regions will face temporary power restrictions on Monday following Russia’s massive airstrike on the energy system, the national grid operator said.

Russia unleashed its biggest airstrike on Ukraine in almost three months on Sunday, killing seven people and further hampering an already damaged energy system.

The attack came as fears grow over Moscow’s plans to destroy Ukraine’s power generation capacity before winter.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had launched a total of 120 missiles and 90 drones in a large-scale attack on Ukraine. Various types of drones were deployed, he said, including Iranian-made Shaheds, as well as cruise, ballistic and aircraft-launched ballistic missiles.

Ukrainian defenses shot down 144 of a total of 210 air targets, the Ukrainian Air Force reported later on Sunday.

“The enemy’s target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris. In Mykolaiv, as a result of a drone strike, two people were killed and six others were injured, including two children,” Zelenskyy said.

In a statement, Ukrenergo said the temporary closures would last from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and that workers would repair the damage as quickly as possible.

After Sunday’s strike, Ukrainian officials confirmed damage to critical infrastructure or power outages in regions from Volyn, Rivne and Lviv in the west to Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia in the southeast.

The extent of the damage has been difficult to estimate because authorities reveal little about the outcome of the strikes and the state of the energy network, which Russia targeted with an air campaign earlier this year.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had launched a massive attack on energy facilities that power Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.

With input from authorities.