More than 500 Ukrainian localities were left without power on Sunday after weeks of Russian airstrikes on the power grid, an Interior Ministry official said. “The enemy continues to attack the basic infrastructure of the country. Currently, 507 locations in eight regions of our country are cut off from electricity supplies,” Deputy Interior Minister Yevgeny Yenin told Ukrainian television.
“Kharkov region with 112 isolated villages is the worst affected,” Yenin added. According to him, another 90 villages were cut off in Donetsk and Kherson regions, and others in Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia and Lugansk regions. On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities – including Mykolaiv Oblast Governor Vitaly Kim – again called on civilians to brace themselves in the face of steadily worsening early winter conditions and regular power outages. Repeated daily power outages have left millions without heat or lights, while outside temperatures have plunged below zero Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days.
With further strikes on the grid widely expected, Ukrainians fear a harsh, long winter as well as a flood of refugees from the war, now in its tenth month. Ukraine’s private energy operator DTEK said on Thursday that nearly half of Ukraine’s power grid remains damaged after Russia began targeting Ukrainian energy facilities in October following a series of humiliating military defeats on the ground.
