Drones cut power to over 200,000 Ukraine homes
According to Kremlin-appointed officials, hundreds of thousands of people were left without electricity in Russian-occupied regions of Southern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Moscow continued to attack Ukraine’s energy grid in nightly attacks that resulted in at least two deaths, according to Ukrainian officials.
More than 200,000 households in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s southern Zaporozhye region were without electricity on Sunday, according to the Kremlin-appointed local governor.
In a post on Telegram, Yevgeny Balitsky said that Ukraine experienced power outages in about 400 settlements due to damage to power networks due to drone attacks.
Russia has damaged Ukraine’s power grid throughout the nearly four-year war, especially during the winter months. It aims to weaken Ukrainians’ will to resist with a strategy that Kiev officials call “armed winter”.
According to the Ukrainian Emergency Service, Russia targeted energy infrastructure in the Odessa region overnight on Sunday. A fire broke out and was quickly extinguished.
At least six people were injured in the Dnipropetrovsk region due to Russian attacks, emergency services said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Telegram post that repairing the country’s energy system remains challenging, “but we are doing everything we can to get everything back as quickly as possible.”
He said two people were killed in night attacks across the country that hit Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi and Odesa.
He added that Russia used a total of more than 1,300 attack aircraft, 1,050 guided aerial bombs and 29 missiles of various types to strike Ukraine this week.
“If Russia deliberately delays the diplomatic process, the world’s reaction will be decisive: more aid to Ukraine and more pressure on the aggressor,” Zelenskiy said.
He spoke the day after a Ukrainian delegation arrived in the United States to discuss a U.S.-led diplomatic push to end almost four years of war.
On Friday, Zelenskiy said the delegation would try to finalize documents from US officials regarding a proposed peace agreement regarding post-war security guarantees and economic recovery.
Zelenskyy said at a press conference in Kiev with Czech Republic President Petr Pavel that the United States and Ukraine could sign the documents at the World Economic Forum to be held in Davos, Switzerland next week, if American officials approve the proposals.
Trump plans to be in Davos, according to organizers.
Russia still needs to be consulted on the proposals.
