MOSCOW: More than 200,000 homes in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine were left without power following a Ukrainian army attack, the Moscow-installed authorities said Sunday.
“Following an enemy attack on the region’s energy infrastructure, a large part of the Zaporizhzhia region has been left without electricity,” Moscow-installed official Yevgeny Balitsky said on Telegram.
According to Balitsky, the attack cut power to 213,000 customers and 386 localities in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed governor of the neighboring Kherson region, said on Saturday evening that a Ukrainian strike had hit an electrical substation, causing outages in 14 towns and 450 villages.
He later said that emergency repair work had restored power.
Russia has hit Ukraine with daily drone and missile barrages in recent months, targeting energy infrastructure and cutting power and heating in the frigid depths of winter.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week declared a “state of emergency” for the sector and said work was under way to increase the country’s electricity imports.
“The situation in the energy system remains difficult, but we are doing everything we can to restore all services as quickly as possible,” he said Sunday.
According to Ukraine’s air force, Russia launched 201 drones overnight from Saturday to Sunday, 167 of which were shot down. Two people were killed, Zelensky said.
Russia’s defense ministry said it shot down 63 Ukrainian drones overnight and reported an attack which, according to local authorities, injured several people.