Emergency crews restored power to many parts of Ukraine after an overnight Russian drone and missile attack on Friday struck energy facilities, plunging large districts of Kyiv and other areas into darkness and cutting water supplies.
In the latest mass attack targeting the energy system as winter approaches, electricity was interrupted in nine regions and over a million households and businesses were temporarily without power across the country.
In southeastern Ukraine, a seven-year-old was killed when his home was hit and at least 20 people were injured.
In Kyiv, an apartment block in the city centre was damaged by a projectile, while on the left bank of the Dnipro that divides the capital, crowds waited at bus stops with the metro out of action. People filled water bottles at distribution points.
Ukraine’s energy ministry said more than 800,000 customers had at one point suffered power cuts in Kyiv.
By yesterday morning, the private power company DTEK said electricity had been restored to most of Kyiv residents, but local problems remained. It said power had also been restored in areas outside the capital and in Dnipropetrovsk region in the southeast.
Authorities reported Russian attacks in different parts of the country throughout Friday. An official in the northern Chernihiv region said one person was killed when a car belonging to the local energy utility was hit by a drone.
Ukrainians are bracing for a tough winter, as the full-scale war launched by Russia’s February 2022 invasion nears its fourth anniversary. Russia has intensified attacks on the energy system in recent weeks, striking power plants and gas production facilities, and local authorities are struggling with the scale of repairs.
Cuba’s Foreign Ministry yesterday said US claims that its troops were fighting in Ukraine were unfounded, and released for the first time information on legal proceedings against Cubans for mercenary activity in the war in Eastern Europe. Communist Cuba has openly sided with its ally Russia in the conflict in Ukraine while also calling for peace talks.
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