Street musicians play their instruments in a square without electric lights in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 22 October 2022. AP
New Delhi: Russian strikes over key infrastructural targets have destroyed 30 per cent of power plants in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskky said on Tuesday, sending a large part of the country into blackouts.
Zelenskyy tweeted Tuesday that nearly one-third of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed since 10 October, causing “massive blackouts” nationwide.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to make “a very conscious” effort to save power, speaking ahead of another night where power substations and other infrastructure were pounded.
Later Tuesday, in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said that switching off appliances and doing other things to save power during hours of peak consumption help “the entire country.”
A nearly two-week barrage of Russian attacks with missiles, self-destructing explosive drones and other weaponry on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure has opened a new phase in the war and further tested the resilience Ukrainians have shown since Moscow invaded.
Russian shelling continued on Wednesday
Russian missile strikes and shelling of energy utilities left more Ukrainian villages, towns, and parts of two cities without power on Wednesday, authorities said, further squeezing Ukraine and threatening misery for millions in winter.
Shelling knocked out power and water in some parts of Enerhodar, Mayor Dmytro Orlov said. The southern city is next to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is one of the most worrisome flashpoints of the nearly eight-month invasion.
Missiles severely damaged an energy facility in the region of Kryvyi Rih, a city in south-central Ukraine, the regional governor reported. He said the strike cut power to villages, towns and to one city district.
President Zelenskky, in his Tuesday video address, thanked Ukrainian soldiers who shot down missiles and Iranian-made drones that were targeted at energy facilities.
“Western nations have promised more air-defence systems to help Ukraine counter the aerial assault. A newly arrived German-supplied system has been deployed and is performing well against the Russian strikes”, Zelenskyy said.
With inputs from AP
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