Electricity blackouts hit swathes of eastern Ukraine; President Zelenskyy blames Russia
The Hindu
‘The goal is to deprive people of light and heat,’ Ukraine President says while slamming Russia
Large areas of eastern Ukraine were experiencing electricity cuts on Sunday evening, Ukrainian officials and AFP journalists said, across regions where Kyiv’s forces have recently clawed back territory from Russian troops.
Ukrainian officials in the country’s second city Kharkiv and in the eastern Donetsk and Sumy regions issued statements on social media saying there were blackouts, while AFP journalists in the Donetsk regional city of Kramatorsk meanwhile confirmed the cuts were also impacting one of the largest cities in the east still under Ukrainian control.
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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was responsible for the sweeping electricity, accusing Moscow of having deliberating hit civilian infrastructure.
“A total blackout in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, a partial one in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions,” Mr. Zelenskys said in a statement on social media, blaming “Russian terrorists”.
“No military facilities,” he added. “The goal is to deprive people of light and heat.”
Officials in east Ukraine also blamed Russian attacks on key facilities that hit large areas of the country.