Russian Strikes Knock Out Power in Ukrainian Cities

Date: 02 January 2023 - 21:43

News ID: ۱۱۰۸۵۸

KYIV, Ukraine (Dispatches) -- A fresh aerial strike targeted Kyiv in the early hours of Monday, after a New Year’s weekend marked by dozens of Russian assaults that killed at least four people.
The Ukrainian capital and other cities came under fire from missiles and drones on Saturday, killing three people, and a new attack Sunday killed one in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia.
Kyiv was once again rocked by an air raid on Monday morning, with the city’s military administration ordering residents just after 1:00 am (2300 GMT) to retreat to “stay in shelters”.
Nearly three hours later, the capital and its surrounding region lifted the air alert. The city’s military administration said 20 air targets had been shot down.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the strikes had knocked out some power and heating. “There are emergency power outages in the city,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Earlier, he said one person was wounded by debris from a destroyed drone that hit a road and damaged a building in a northeastern district of the capital.
The attacks came as the Ukraine war enters its 11th month.
The strikes have caused sweeping blackouts and cut off water supplies and heating to civilians as the temperature in some regions dropped below freezing.
President Vladimir Putin declared during his midnight address on New Year’s Eve that “moral, historical rightness is on our side”.
Moscow said its New Year’s attacks had targeted the pro-Western country’s drone production.
“The plans of the Kyiv regime to carry out terror attacks against Russia in the near future have been thwarted,” Russia’s defense ministry said.
Russia has accused Ukraine of targeting its domestic military sites and infrastructure.
In December, Moscow said it had shot down drones three separate times over Engels airfield, an airbase in southern Russia more than 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Ukraine.
Another base in Russia’s Ryazan region also saw attacks from Ukraine’s drones in early December, according to Moscow, killing three people.
Kyiv has a policy of not claiming responsibility for such raids.