Ukraine accuses Russia of attacking power grid in revenge for counteroffensive
- Ukraine’s forces continue rapid advance in the Kharkiv region, exploiting an extraordinary collapse of Russian defences
- Kyiv accused Russia of carrying out reprisal strikes against civilian infrastructure, causing widespread power blackouts
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Ukraine’s shock counteroffensive on eastern front pushes back Russian invasion forces
Ukraine accused the Russian military of attacking civilian infrastructure in response to a rapid weekend offensive by Ukrainian troops that forced Russia to abandon its main bastion in the Kharkiv region.
Ukrainian officials said targets of the retaliatory attacks included water facilities and a thermal power station in Kharkiv, and caused widespread blackouts.
“A total blackout in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, a partial one in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media.
“No military facilities,” he added. “The goal is to deprive people of light and heat.”
He blamed “Russian terrorists”. Moscow denies its forces deliberately target civilians.
Zelensky has described Ukraine’s offensive in the northeast as a potential breakthrough in the six-month-old war, and said the winter could see further territorial gains if Kyiv received more powerful weapons.
