Moscow has attacked Ukraine’s energy grid every winter since the 2022 invasion, cutting electricity and heating supplies to millions of homes and disrupting water supplies.
A Russian attack in the Odessa region, in southern left thousands of people without power on the eve of winter. “Last night, the enemy attacked the energy and civil infrastructure in the Odessa region,” said Governor Oleg Kiper on Telegram, this Saturday (11). “Electrical engineers are doing everything possible to fully restore power supply,” he added.
There was no immediate information on how many people were affected by the power outage, but Ukrainian energy company DTEK reported outages in parts of the coastal city of Odessa. DTEK later reported that it had restored power to more than 240,000 homes in the region.
Moscow has attacked Ukraine’s energy grid every winter since the 2022 invasion, cutting off electricity and heating to millions of homes and cutting off water supplies in what Kiev considers a blatant war crime. Russia denies that civilians are the target, arguing that Ukraine uses its electrical infrastructure to power its military apparatus.
Kiev, for its part, maintains that the attacks are mainly aimed at civilians. Saturday’s power cuts came a day after a large-scale Russian attack cut power supplies to much of Kiev and nine other regions of the country. DTEK confirmed this Saturday morning that it had restored power supply to more than 800,000 homes in the capital following this attack.
The Ukrainian president, urged his American counterpart, , during a telephone conversation there, to seal peace in Ukraine, just as he did in the Middle East. “I congratulated President Donald J. Trump on his success and the agreement in the Middle East that he was able to reach, which is an extraordinary achievement,” wrote Zelensky in a Facebook post. “If it is possible to stop a war in one region, it is certainly possible to stop other wars, including the one in Russia,” he added.
Zelensky had already asked Trump to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop bombings against Ukraine, invaded by Moscow in February 2022. A Ukrainian delegation is expected to travel to the United States “early next week” to discuss possible sanctions, energy and Ukraine’s air defense, Zelensky announced on Thursday. “The issue of freezing Russian assets will also be discussed with the United States,” the Ukrainian leader added.
*With information from AFP
Published by Sarah Paul
