Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Friday killed 15 civilians, officials said, as engineers across the country sought to restore heat, water and power to major cities.
Throughout the country, Russian airstrikes have brought Ukraine’s energy infrastructure to its knees as winter approaches and temperatures near freezing, spurring fears of a health crisis and a further exodus.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said more than 6 million households in the country were still affected by power cuts, two days after targeted Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Photo: AFP / HANDOUT / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE
The country’s national energy company, Ukrenergo, late on Friday said that the grid was still facing a 30 percent deficit, with its technicians working “around the clock” to restore power.
However, the company said it expected to increase coverage over the weekend, boosted by additional nuclear power.
The attack on Kherson, a key city recaptured by Ukrainian forces, marked the deadliest Russian bombardment in the past few days.
Photo: AP
“Fifteen residents were killed and 35 injured, including one child, as a result of enemy shelling,” city official Galyna Lugova said.
Several “private houses and high-rise buildings” had been damaged, she added.
“The Russian invaders opened fire on a residential area with multiple rocket launchers. A large building caught fire,” Kherson military administration head Yarovslav Yanushovich said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Earlier on Friday, the region’s governor said patients in the city hospital and others from a psychiatric unit had been evacuated because of “constant Russian shelling.”
The Kherson City Council said it was offering to evacuate civilians to other regions.
The attacks on power stations and other infrastructure throughout Ukraine are Russia’s latest attempt to force Ukrainian capitulation after Moscow’s forces failed to topple the Ukrainian government and capture Kyiv in the war’s early stages.
In the capital, where about half of residents were still without power two days after Russian strikes hammered the country’s energy grid, engineers worked to restore services.
“We have to endure this winter, a winter that everyone will remember,” Zelenskiy said on social media, as British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly James Cleverly visited to announce a new aid package.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal told a government meeting that “almost all Ukraine’s critical infrastructure has been reconnected.”
Critical infrastructure includes water utilities, heat generation plants, hospitals and emergency services.
However, Shmygal said households continued to face scheduled power cuts across every region of the country.
Meanwhile, for the first time since he launched the war in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin met the mothers of soldiers fighting in Ukraine, assuring those whose children had been killed that he and Russia’s elite “share this pain.”
“I want you to know I, personally, and the entire leadership of the country share this pain,” he told them.
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