Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu held phone calls on Sunday with his French and Turkish counterparts, to discuss the Ukraine crisis, officials said. Meanwhile, residents in the southern Kherson region have been to evacuate, while elsewhere, millions found themselves without electricity due to Russian airstrikes on infrastructure.
"The situation in Ukraine, which has a steady tendency towards further, uncontrolled escalation, was discussed," by Shoigu and France's Sebastien Lecornu, the ministry said.
Later on Sunday, the ministry said Shoigu held a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar.
In both calls, Shoigu conveyed "concerns about possible provocations by Ukraine with the use of a 'dirty bomb'".
The statements did not provide further details.
Shoigu also held a rare phone call with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday. Both sides confirmed they discussed the Ukraine crisis.
Russia's defence ministry said Sunday it destroyed a depot in central Ukraine that was storing over 100,000 tonnes of aviation fuel.
"A fuel depot was destroyed near the village of Smila in Cherkasy region, where more than 100,000 tonnes of aviation fuel for the Ukrainian air forces was stored," the defence ministry said in its daily briefing.
Meanwhile, pro-Russian authorities on Saturday urged residents in the southern Kherson region, which Moscow claims to have annexed, to leave the main city "immediately" in the face of Kyiv's advancing counter-offensive.
Power cuts
The call came as President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 36 rockets overnight in a "massive attack" on Ukraine.
This came as fresh strikes targeted energy infrastructure in Ukraine's west, Ukraine's energy operator Ukrenergo said on social media.
More than a million households in Ukraine were without electricity, according to the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidency Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
"These are vile strikes on critical objects," Zelensky said in his evening address on Saturday. "The world can and must stop this terror."
Power outages were reported in other parts of the country and local officials repeated calls to reduce energy use. Some parts of Ukraine have already cut their electricity use by up to 20 percent, according to Ukrenergo.
Kyiv's energy operator DTEK said Sunday that scheduled "stabilisation" power cuts have been introduced in the Ukrainian capital.
It added that the blackouts should last "no more than four hours" but may be longer "due to the scale of damage to the power supply system".
Sanctions
Zelensky also said Ukraine was working with international partners to extend sanctions to Russian media workers and celebrities who had backed Russia's invasion.
"They should receive a full package of individual sanctions so that they can't do anything around the world at all," he said.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that he had had his first call with Italy's newly appointed foreign minister Antonio Tajani.
Wishing him success, Kuleba stressed that Ukraine's "highest priority" was to "swiftly receive air defence systems".
(with newswires)
