Russia drones smash power network in Ukraine’s Odesa, leaving 1.5 million without power
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A vendor in Odesa waits for customers in a small store that is lit with candles after critical civil infrastructure was hit by Russian missile attacks.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KYIV - All non-critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian port of Odesa was without power after Russia used Iranian-made drones to hit two energy facilities, officials said on Saturday, adding it could take months to repair the damage.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 1.5 million people in the southern port city and surrounding region had no electricity.
“The situation in the Odesa region is very difficult,” he said in his nightly video address. “Unfortunately, the hits were critical, so it takes more than just time to restore electricity... It doesn’t take hours, but a few days, unfortunately.”
Since October, Moscow has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with large waves of missile and drone strikes.
The regional administration said people who relied solely on electricity to power their homes should consider leaving.
Officials said Russian strikes hit key transmission lines and equipment in the early hours of Saturday.
Mr Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for Odesa’s regional administration, said electricity for the city’s population will be restored “in the coming days,” while complete restoration of the networks may take two to three months.
He said an earlier Facebook post by the region’s administration, advising some people to consider evacuating, was being investigated by Ukraine’s security services as “an element of the hybrid war” by Russia.
That post has since been deleted.
“Not a single representative of the authorities in the region made any calls for the evacuation of the inhabitants of Odesa and the region,” Mr Bratchuk said.
Odesa, Ukraine’s largest port city, had a population of over one million before Russia’s Feb 24 invasion.
Kyiv says Russia has launched hundreds of Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones at targets in Ukraine and describes the attacks as war crimes due to their devastating effect on civilian life. Moscow claims they are militarily legitimate.
In a video address, Mr Zelensky said there was a significant shortfall in the amount of power being generated.
Ukraine’s prosecutor-general’s office said two power facilities in the Odesa region were hit by Shahed-136 drones.
Ukraine’s armed forces said on Facebook that 15 drones had been launched against targets in the southern regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv, and 10 had been shot down.
Teheran denies supplying the drones to Moscow. Kyiv and its Western allies say that is a lie.
Britain’s defence ministry said on Saturday that it believed Iran’s military support for Russia was likely to increase in the coming months, including possible deliveries of ballistic missiles .REUTERS
