Hundreds of thousands of people in Russian-occupied parts of southern Ukraine have been left without power due to drone strikes, according to Kremlin-installed authorities in the region. More than 200,000 households in the Russian-held part of the Zaporizhzhia region had no electricity on Sunday, according to the Moscow-installed local governor, Yevgeny Balitsky.
Balitsky said nearly 400 settlements have had their power supply cut, due to damage to power networks from what he claimed were Ukrainian drone strikes. Kyiv has not commented on the strikes. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power grid and energy infrastructure during its invasion, in a bid to weaken Ukrainians’ will.
Meanwhile, Russia targeted energy infrastructure in the Odesa region overnight, causing a fire to break out. At least six people were injured in the Dnipropetrovsk region due to Russian attacks, the emergency services said.
The latest developments come as a Ukrainian delegation continues talks with US officials on a diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the delegation would try to finalise documents for a proposed peace settlement that relate to post-war security guarantees and economic recovery.
If US officials approve the proposal, the US and Ukraine could sign the documents next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelenskyy said. However, Russia would still need to be consulted on the proposal.
The crippling attacks on Ukraine’s power grid have left hundreds of thousands without heat or light amid the coldest winter in years. Ukraine’s energy minister, Denys Shmyhal, said Russia has not spared a single Ukrainian power plant from attacks since its full-scale invasion, posing an “unprecedented challenge” for the country’s battered power system.