Ukraine: Missiles, exploding drones again hit power and water, situation is ‘critical’, say officials
- Several Ukraine regions, including the capital Kyiv, experiencing power cuts after multiple strikes targeted energy facilities
- Thirty per cent of the country’s power stations have been destroyed in a week, President Zelensky says
Air strikes cut power and water supplies in a repeatedly bombed Ukrainian city and pounded energy and infrastructure facilities elsewhere in the country on Tuesday, part of an apparent quickening effort by Russia to drive Ukrainians into the cold and dark as winter bites.
All of Zhytomyr, a city with military bases 140km (85 miles) west of the capital, was without electricity and water after a double missile strike on an energy facility, said Mayor Serhiy Sukhomlyn. Hospitals were left running on backup power, he said.
Missile strikes also hit an energy facility in Kyiv and severely damaged another in the south-central city of Dnipro, authorities said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko called on residents to save electricity and stock up on drinking water and said two infrastructure targets, which he did not identify, had suffered “significant damage”.
“As a result of today’s attack on the critical infrastructure of Kyiv, three people were killed. These are employees of one of the critical infrastructure facilities,” he said.
Kyiv’s Prosecutor’s Office said it had opened an investigation into a possible “violation of the laws and customs of war.”