A large-scale Russian drone and missile attack damaged power facilities in eight Ukrainian regions, causing blackouts and forcing nuclear power plants to cut power output, officials and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Saturday.
According to Reuters, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine's energy sector and infrastructure in recent weeks, targeting power stations and railway hubs as winter deepens and the war approaches its fourth anniversary.
There was no breakthrough in U.S.-brokered talks this week aimed at ending the conflict.
Ukraine operates three nuclear power plants which produce more than half of the country's electricity and IAEA said the plants cut production due to "widespread military activities overnight".
The Ukrainian military said Russia had launched 653 drones and 51 missiles on Ukraine overnight.
Ukrainian forces downed 585 drones and 30 missiles, the military said.
Power and heat generation facilities in Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions were targeted in the attack, Ukraine's ministry for development of communities and territories said.
It said on Telegram that 9,500 customers remained without heat and 34,000 without water supply in the southern Odesa region.
"Port facilities (in Odesa) have also been attacked: part of the infrastructure has been de-energised, and operators have switched to backup power from generators," the ministry said.
"Emergency repair work is already underway where safety conditions permit. Energy companies are doing everything possible to restore power to all customers as quickly as possible," the energy ministry said on Telegram.
Among the sites hit overnight was a railway hub near Kyiv, where the depot and railway carriages were damaged, Ukrainian state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said.—Reuters
