Russian strikes leave 850,000 without power across Ukraine
Overnight Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy sector reportedly left more than 850,000 people without electricity. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said Russia launched a drone strike on the site of a deadly attack in Komyshuvakha.
- More than 850,000 people were reportedly left without power nationwide after overnight strikes.
- DTEK said over 600,000 residents of the Dnipropetrovsk region lost electricity.
- Zelenskyy said a drone struck the Komyshuvakha site where rescuers were searching.
- Power was gradually being restored in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight reportedly left more than 850,000 people without electricity across the country, according to Euronews. France 24 also reported that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians were without power on Sunday, as temperatures dropped and residents in Kyiv and other areas faced cuts.
The Ukrainian energy firm DTEK said Russian forces launched a massive attack on the energy sector, targeting key facilities in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. "Over 600,000 residents of the region in the Pavlohrad, Samar, Kamianske and Dnipro districts, as well as in the city of Dnipro itself, have been left without power," DTEK said. Authorities said power was gradually being restored there.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said outages were widespread, including in Kharkiv Oblast and the Zhytomyr region. He said 140 apartment buildings in Zhytomyr region were without heating after a Russian strike. Local authorities in Kharkiv said about 250,000 customers lost power in the region, but it has since been restored.
Zelenskyy also said Russia launched a drone strike on the site of a recent attack in Komyshuvakha, where rescuers had been carrying out search operations. A bombing there on Monday killed at least 55 people. "Unfortunately, more people may still be under the rubble. Absolute cynicism and brutality," Zelenskyy said. Ukraine's State Emergency Service said Russia deliberately attacked emergency workers at the site, but no one was injured.
The Monday strikes hit a school that Kyiv said was used for humanitarian purposes. They followed a rare localised truce between Kyiv and Moscow that allowed evacuees to leave the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky in Kherson region.
In Dnipro, one person was killed and three others injured in a strike on a residential area on Sunday, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration. He said: "A fire has broken out. At least one private house has been destroyed. It is believed that people may be trapped under the rubble."
Zelenskyy said Russia fired 115 missiles, almost 1,900 guided aerial bombs and more than 3,000 attack drones against Ukraine over the past week. He accused the Kremlin of intensifying attacks to pressure Ukraine's negotiating position ahead of planned trilateral talks between Kyiv, Moscow and Washington in Abu Dhabi.
Background
khabr.pk reported on 7 November that Russian strikes hit energy facilities and a bridge in the Kyiv region, and that Zelenskyy said Moscow was trying to push Ukraine into a blackout before talks in Abu Dhabi. On 8 November khabr.pk reported that France's foreign minister said Europeans would take part in the US-mediated talks, due on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Why it matters
The war is a major global conflict that Pakistanis follow closely, and it affects world energy prices and diplomacy. The attacks on Ukraine's power system come as the talks in Abu Dhabi approach, which readers in Pakistan can follow as part of wider diplomacy among major powers.
