Ukraine introduces power cuts across all regions after recent Russian attacks
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People use flashlights as they walk their dogs in Kyiv, Ukraine, during a power blackout after critical civil infrastructure was hit by recent Russian missile and drone attacks.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KYIV - Ukraine is introducing emergency power cuts in all but two regions following a spate of Russian strikes that have hobbled the country’s energy system, officials said on Oct 15.
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities as winter approaches, seriously damaging gas production and plunging major cities including the capital Kyiv into periods of darkness.
In a statement, Ukraine’s energy ministry said the fallout from recent strikes had forced it to implement the cuts. Planned power outages had already been in place in the eastern Donetsk and northern Chernihiv regions.
Earlier on Oct 15, leading private energy provider DTEK said it had returned power to 1.9 million residents mostly in Kyiv and the southern Odesa and south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk regions over the past week.
Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelensky are pressing Kyiv’s allies to step up supplies of critical air-defence equipment and strengthen energy assistance.
Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal, speaking in Brussels on Oct 15, said Ukraine was preparing for a “very tough, very difficult winter” and urged partners to help Ukraine produce more interceptor drones.
“We understand that Putin will continue his terror.” REUTERS
