Ukraine drone attack blamed for power cuts in Russia-controlled Zaporizhzhia region
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The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europe’s largest with six reactors, was said to be unaffected by the power cuts.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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- A Ukrainian drone attack caused power outages in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, according to Moscow-installed governor Yevgeny Balitsky.
- Repair crews worked to restore power amidst dangers, while the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station remained unaffected and operating normally.
- Russian shelling in Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions resulted in civilian deaths, as reported by Ukrainian governors.
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KYIV - A Ukrainian drone attack late on Aug 19 knocked out power to areas of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region under Russian control, according to the Moscow-installed governor.
Russian forces hold well over half of the Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine’s south-east. But Kyiv maintains control of the region’s main administrative centre, and its attacks have periodically knocked out electricity in Russian-held areas.
Russia in 2022 annexed the Zaporizhzhia region, along with neighbouring Kherson as well as Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine’s east, about seven months after invading its smaller neighbour.
“The reason for the power cuts in Zaporizhzhia region is yet another enemy terrorist drone attack on high-voltage equipment,” Moscow-appointed governor Yevgeny Balitsky wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Mr Balitsky said repair crews were restoring power and switching affected areas to reserve lines. He said the work was made more difficult “by the danger of repeat strikes and by darkness”.
Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks reportedly knocked out power in June for more than 24 hours to at least 700,000 residents across the area. That attack appeared to be the largest of its kind on Russian-held territory since the war began.
The Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station – Europe’s largest with six reactors – was operating as normal, unaffected by the power cuts, Ms Yevgenia Yashina, the plant’s director of communications, told Russia’s RIA news agency.
The plant produces no electricity but needs power for cooling and monitoring systems to maintain safety. Ukraine and Russia regularly accuse each other of staging attacks on the plant, seized by Russian forces in the first weeks of the February 2022 invasion.
In the part of Kherson region under Ukrainian control, Governor Vyacheslav Prokudin claimed in a Telegram post that Russian shelling had killed a resident of a small town north of the regional capital.
Meanwhile, Mr Serhiy Lysak, governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, to the north, said on Telegram that Russian shelling killed a resident of Nikopol, a frequent target of Moscow’s attacks on the north bank of the Dnipro River. REUTERS
