KYIV: A “massive attack” by Russian forces on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has caused power outages across the country, the state grid operator said on Saturday.
Russia has pressed on with its invasion of Ukraine in recent days despite the two countries holding US-brokered talks to end the nearly four-year-long war.
Ukrainian officials have accused Moscow of deliberately targeting energy infrastructure, causing outages that have left hundreds of thousands of people without lighting or heating in temperatures well below zero.
“Russia is carrying out another massive attack on the Ukrainian power grid facilities,” grid operator Ukrenergo said on Saturday.
“Due to the damage caused by the enemy, emergency outages have been applied in most regions,” it said in a statement on Telegram.
“Currently, the attack is still ongoing. Restoration work will begin as soon as the security situation allows.”
Ukraine and Russia have held two rounds of US-mediated negotiations in Abu Dhabi since January.
Kyiv and Moscow have agreed to a major prisoner swap but have made no breakthrough on the issue of territory, a key sticking point in negotiations.
Moscow has accused Ukraine of orchestrating the shooting of a top military intelligence general in the Russian capital on Friday, leaving him wounded. Kyiv has not commented.
Russia hits Ukraine power grid with ‘massive attack’: operator
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Russia hits Ukraine power grid with ‘massive attack’: operator
- Ukrainian officials have accused Moscow of deliberately targeting energy infrastructure, causing outages that have left hundreds of thousands of people without lighting or heating in temperatures well below zero
US Justice Department official eyes cases against Cuba leaders as Trump floats ‘friendly takeover’
- “Working group” formed to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government
- Trump’s has increasingly displayed aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership
MIAMI: The top Justice Department prosecutor in Miami is considering criminal investigations of Cuban government officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry comes as President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of the communist-run island.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, has created a “working group” that includes federal prosecutors and officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to try to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government and its Communist Party, according to one of the people. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the effort.
It was not immediately clear which Cuban officials the office is targeting or what criminal charges prosecutors may be looking to bring.
The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that “federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
The effort is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership.
Emboldened by the US capture of Cuba’s close ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump last month said his administration was in high-level talks with officials in Havana to pursue “a friendly takeover” of the country. He repeated those claims this week, saying his attention would turn back to Cuba once the war with Iran winds down.
“They want to make a deal so bad,” Trump said of Cuba’s leadership.
While Cuba has faded from Washington’s radar as a major national security threat in recent decades, it remains a priority in the US Attorney’s office in Miami, whose political, economic and cultural life is dominated by Cuban-American exiles.
The FBI field office has a dedicated Cuba group that in 2024 was instrumental in the arrest of former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha on charges of serving as a secret agent of Cuba stretching back to the 1970s.
In recent weeks, several Miami Republicans, in addition to Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have called on the Trump administration to reopen its criminal investigation into the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by anti-communist exiles.
In a letter to Trump on Feb. 13, lawmakers including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez highlighted decades-old news reports indicating that former President Raúl Castro — the head of Cuba’s military at the time — gave the order to shoot down the unarmed Cessna aircraft.
“We believe unequivocally that Raúl Castro is responsible for this heinous crime,” lawmakers wrote. “It is time for him to be brought to justice.”
While no indictment against Castro has been announced, Florida’s attorney general said this week that he would open a state-level investigation into the crime.
The Trump administration has also accused Cuba of not cooperating with American counterterrorism efforts, adding it alongside North Korea and Iran to a select few nations the US considers state sponsors of terrorism.
The designation stems from Cuba’s harboring of US fugitives and its refusal to extradite several Colombian rebel leaders while they were engaged in peace talks with the South American nation.
