One million without heat and water after Russian strikes, Ukraine says
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said Russia’s drone attacks on Ukraine have left more than a million people in the Dnipropetrovsk region without heating and water supplies.
Oleksiy Kuleba added that efforts are continuing to restore services after the large-scale attack that damaged infrastructure in the southeast.
Electricity supplies were also cut off to thousands more in neighboring Zaporizhzhya, but electricity has since been restored.
Russia has recently intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, aiming to paralyze power supplies during the difficult winter months. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused it of “cynicism” and appealed for support from the West.
While the energy ministry stated that hospitals, water utilities and other critical services in Dnipropetrovsk were operating with backup systems, residents were urged to limit electricity use to prevent further strain on the grid.
The chief executive of DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy provider, told the BBC last month that Russia was living in a permanent crisis mode due to attacks on the grid, with much of Ukraine suffering from long power outages during the winter months.
Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, which provides electricity to 5.6 million Ukrainians, said the intensity of the strikes was so frequent that “we do not have time to recover.”
As the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion approaches, Timchenko said Russia has repeatedly targeted DTEK’s energy grid with “waves of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles” and his company is struggling to cope.
Zelensky said, “Such attacks on the energy sector and infrastructure, which leave people without electricity and heating in winter conditions, have no military meaning.”
He called on Ukrainians to remain “resistant” to Russian attempts to “break Ukraine”, adding that peace talks aimed at ending the war should not be a reason to slow Western supplies of Ukraine’s air defence.
Zelensky went on a diplomatic trip this week and met with his allies in the “Coalition of the Volunteers” and US President Donald Trump’s peace envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Following talks in Paris on Tuesday, Britain and France signed a declaration of intent to deploy troops in Ukraine if a peace deal is reached; Moscow warned that the move would make foreign forces a “legitimate target”.
But a day later, Zelensky said that his European allies had not given him solid guarantees that they would protect his country in the event of a new Russian attack.
But he also said he believed Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine could be brought to an end in the first half of 2026.
Speaking at the opening of Cyprus’s presidency of the EU for the next six months, he said negotiations with European partners and the US had entered a new stage and stressed that the EU should play a central role in any settlement.
President Donald Trump is leading efforts to end the war. Their proposal, as amended by Ukraine and its European allies, calls for Ukraine to grant Russia territorial concessions in areas it does not yet control in the east of the country.
According to Zelensky, negotiations are concentrated on these points, that is, on the last 10% of the agreement. Ukraine has so far refused to cede its territory to Russia.
Once agreed upon, these proposals will need Russian approval.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no signs of backing down from his demands for the annexation of the entire eastern industrial region of Donbas.
Their troops have been making slow progress over the past few months.
