KYIV - Kyiv said on Tuesday that more than 1,100 towns and villages across Ukraine had been left without power after 10 days of Russia strikes that have targeted energy facilities across the country.
In the past 10 days Russia carried out around “190 mass strikes with missiles, kamikaze drones and artillery in 16 Ukrainian regions and in the city of Kyiv”, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s emergency services, Oleksandr Khorunzhyi, told a briefing.
“For now, 1,162 settlements in Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovograd, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Lugansk, Mykolaiv, Kherson regions remain cut off from electricity,” Khorunzhyi said.
As a result of the strikes, more than 70 people were killed and 240 injured over that period, according to statistics given during the briefing.
Strikes impacted 380 buildings including “critical infrastructure facilities, in particular energy facilities, and civilian facilities – private houses, and high-rise residential buildings”, Khorunzhyi said.
Around 140 residential buildings have been hit since Oct 7, he said.
Presidential advisor Mykhaylo Podolyak said Tuesday Russia “systematically tries to destroy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine by attacking cities and civilians.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier on Tuesday that Russian forces have “destroyed” a third of Ukraine’s power stations in repeated strikes that targeted energy infrastructure and caused blackouts across the country.
“Since October 10, 30 per cent of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed, causing massive blackouts across the country,” Zelensky said on Twitter.
He added there was “no space left for negotiations with (President Vladimir) Putin’s regime”.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was on “critical infrastructure” in northern Kyiv, where Reuters witnesses saw thick smoke rising into the sky.
He called on residents to save electricity “as much as possible” and avoid using appliances with high energy consumption.
Elsewhere, a Reuters witness said a Russian missile struck an apartment building in the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv.
The missile completely destroyed one wing of the building in the downtown area, leaving a large crater.
At least one person was killed.
Earlier, on the Telegram messaging app, Mr Zelensky wrote: “In Mykolaiv, the enemy destroyed a residential building with C-300 missiles. A person died. There was also a strike at the flower market, the chestnut park. I wonder what the Russian terrorists were fighting against at these absolutely peaceful facilities?“ AFP, REUTERS
