Hundreds of thousands left without power in Ukraine after Russian strikes, authorities say

Hundreds of thousands of people were left without electricity after Russian strikes hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, authorities said on Sunday.

In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, “more than 600,000 residents were left without electricity,” power company DTEK said on Telegram after a “nighttime attack damaged important energy facilities.”

The company was working to restore electricity, but the task was “complicated by repeated attacks.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr had already accused Russia is expected to step up its attacks on Ukraine ahead of next week’s trilateral talks with Russia.

In another strike, a Russian drone hit “critical infrastructure” in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, Zlatopil city mayor Mykola Baksheyev said on social media.

“Almost 250,000 customers in the Kharkiv region were left without electricity,” Baksheyev said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the nighttime strikes had triggered “widespread power outages across the country.”

“In the Zhytomyr region alone, 140 apartment buildings were left without heating following a Russian strike,” he said, as temperatures in Ukraine were already near freezing.

He also said Russia had launched a drone into Komyshuvakha, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region where Moscow struck an aid distribution center on Monday in one of the deadliest attacks of the war.

The death toll now stands at 55 people, Mr. Zelensky said. Emergency services previously estimated the death toll at 50.

“This morning, the Russians attacked Komyshuvakha with an FPV drone, where emergency rescue operations have been underway for seven days… Unfortunately, more people may still be under the rubble,” Zelenskyy said.

The strikes come a day after Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said a massive attack on energy facilities had plunged residents in five regions into darkness and significantly hampered electricity transmission to kyiv.