Russia-Ukraine war live: Kremlin says Russia ‘still needs to liberate’ east and south Ukraine; 20,000 Ukrainians in Russian detention
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Ukraine has introduced new emergency power cuts as it tried to repair energy infrastructure damaged in Russian airstrikes, which the national grid operator said had caused significant supply shortages.
Russia targeted power facilities across Ukraine in the latest big wave of attacks on Monday, at a time of the year when energy consumption usually rises as temperatures plunge.
“As of 11:00 on 8 December, because of damage caused by missile strikes to power plants and the high-voltage network, the system has a significant shortage of electricity,” the grid operator Ukrenergo said.
It said the situation was complicated by the weather, with western regions facing frost, rain, snow and strong winds that were causing wires to ice over, Reuters reports, but the most difficult situation was in eastern areas, where fighting has been fiercest.
“In all regions, there is a lack of energy – up to a third of what is needed,” said Oleksandr Starukh, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia region in south-eastern Ukraine.
Monday’s attacks began as emergency blackouts were due to end, with previous damage repaired. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private power producer, said there were now emergency power cuts in the capital Kyiv and the Kyiv region, in the southern region of Odesa and in Dnipro, central Ukraine.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February, has increased attacks on energy facilities in recent weeks, saying strikes on vital infrastructure are militarily legitimate. Ukraine says attacks intended to cause civilian misery are a war crime.