KYIV: Ukraine imposed nationwide rolling power cuts for the second day running on Thursday, the state grid operator said, as Russia intensifies its attacks on the country’s energy network and temperatures drop.
Russian forces struck gas facilities in eastern Ukraine early Thursday, sparking major disruption to the network in Moscow’s latest large-scale bombardment.
The Russian army has attacked Ukrainian power infrastructure each winter since invading in 2022, forcing Kyiv to impose emergency power cuts and import energy from abroad.
AFP reporters in the northeastern Kharkiv region were in a shop that had been plunged into darkness, as a cashier took payments and operated the till by generator power.
“Due to the challenging situation in the energy system, emergency power outages have been implemented in all regions of Ukraine,” national electricity operator Ukrenergo said in a statement.
The rolling power cuts are designed to ration electricity across the country, with officials urging the population to limit consumption.
Russia’s army said Thursday it had launched a “massive” strike using ballistic missiles and drones against Ukrainian gas sites.
The CEO of Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz, Sergii Koretskyi, said there had been “hits and destruction in several regions at once. The operation of a number of critically important facilities has been halted.”
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 320 drones and 37 missiles, adding that 283 drones and five missiles were downed.
“This autumn, the Russians use every single day to strike at our energy infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Media reports earlier suggested that recent Russian strikes had halted around 60 percent of Ukrainian gas production, and attacks on power stations had cut electricity for hundreds of thousands of people.
Kyiv has increasingly responded to Moscow’s aerial attacks with strikes on Russian logistics and refineries.
Ukrainian strikes on the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region left almost 100,000 people without power, Moscow-backed authorities said.
The International Criminal Court last year issued arrest warrants for two top Russian army officials over the attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities, saying they constituted a “war crime” and had inflicted “excessive” harm to civilians.
Kyiv has been appealing to its allies for more air defense systems to protect critical infrastructure.
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Russian strikes force nationwide Ukraine power cuts
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Russian strikes force nationwide Ukraine power cuts
- “Due to the challenging situation in the energy system, emergency power outages have been implemented in all regions of Ukraine,” Ukrenergo said
- The rolling power cuts are designed to ration electricity across the country
White House steps up attacks on CNN
- Communications director Steven Cheung calls CNN cowardly for not inviting Trump adviser Stephen Miller to be interviewed
- On Wednesday, President Donald Trump accused a CNN journalist of being “an arm of the Democrat Party”
WASHINGTON: The White House on Thursday intensified its attacks on CNN, the news network at the center of a financial battle that President Donald Trump is tied up in politically and through family.
Echoing the president’s frequent anti-media barbs, senior members of his administration lashed out.
“CNN = Chicken News Network,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X Thursday, calling CNN cowardly for not inviting Trump adviser Stephen Miller to be interviewed “presumably because they are scared Stephen will school them.”
Vice President JD Vance then shared the post, adding: “If CNN wants to be a real news network it should feature important voices from our administration.”
A CNN spokesperson said Miller would be welcome back on the channel, Fox News reported Thursday.
“As a news organization, we make editorial decisions about the stories we cover and when, and that depends on the news priorities of the day. We look forward to having Stephen on again in the future as the news warrants,” the CNN spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The harshest attack on CNN from the Trump administration came from an official White House account called Rapid Response 47, which went after Kaitlan Collins, one of the network’s most prominent correspondents, saying she “is not a journalist. She is a mouthpiece for the Democrat Party.”
On Wednesday, the president confronted another CNN journalist similarly, and said “you know you work for the Democrats, don’t you? You are basically an arm of the Democrat Party.”
CNN has yet to comment publicly on those allegations. In the past, the network has responded to criticism of political bias by asserting that it is committed to objective journalism and fairness.
CNN for sale
Founded in 1980 to provide global television news coverage, CNN is currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the media conglomerate at the heart of a bidding war between streaming giant Netflix and Paramount Skydance, the latter of which is led by CEO David Ellison, son of Trump ally Larry Ellison.
The president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has joined Paramount’s bid through his investment firm.
And Trump has already indicated he intends to get involved in the government’s decision to approve or block a sale, which would typically involve the Justice Department.
Under Paramount’s offer, CNN would fall into Ellison’s hands.
Under the Netflix deal, Warner Bros. Discovery would sell off CNN and other cable news properties separately before closing the sale of its studio and streaming operations.
The 79-year-old president said Wednesday he wants to ensure CNN gets new ownership as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery sale, seeming to favor a Paramount purchase.
“I don’t think the people that are running that company right now and running CNN, which is a very dishonest group of people, I don’t think that should be allowed to continue. I think CNN should be sold along with everything else,” Trump said.
Echoing the president’s frequent anti-media barbs, senior members of his administration lashed out.
“CNN = Chicken News Network,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X Thursday, calling CNN cowardly for not inviting Trump adviser Stephen Miller to be interviewed “presumably because they are scared Stephen will school them.”
Vice President JD Vance then shared the post, adding: “If CNN wants to be a real news network it should feature important voices from our administration.”
A CNN spokesperson said Miller would be welcome back on the channel, Fox News reported Thursday.
“As a news organization, we make editorial decisions about the stories we cover and when, and that depends on the news priorities of the day. We look forward to having Stephen on again in the future as the news warrants,” the CNN spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The harshest attack on CNN from the Trump administration came from an official White House account called Rapid Response 47, which went after Kaitlan Collins, one of the network’s most prominent correspondents, saying she “is not a journalist. She is a mouthpiece for the Democrat Party.”
On Wednesday, the president confronted another CNN journalist similarly, and said “you know you work for the Democrats, don’t you? You are basically an arm of the Democrat Party.”
CNN has yet to comment publicly on those allegations. In the past, the network has responded to criticism of political bias by asserting that it is committed to objective journalism and fairness.
CNN for sale
Founded in 1980 to provide global television news coverage, CNN is currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the media conglomerate at the heart of a bidding war between streaming giant Netflix and Paramount Skydance, the latter of which is led by CEO David Ellison, son of Trump ally Larry Ellison.
The president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has joined Paramount’s bid through his investment firm.
And Trump has already indicated he intends to get involved in the government’s decision to approve or block a sale, which would typically involve the Justice Department.
Under Paramount’s offer, CNN would fall into Ellison’s hands.
Under the Netflix deal, Warner Bros. Discovery would sell off CNN and other cable news properties separately before closing the sale of its studio and streaming operations.
The 79-year-old president said Wednesday he wants to ensure CNN gets new ownership as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery sale, seeming to favor a Paramount purchase.
“I don’t think the people that are running that company right now and running CNN, which is a very dishonest group of people, I don’t think that should be allowed to continue. I think CNN should be sold along with everything else,” Trump said.
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