Ukraine’s electricity grid operator has warned of hours-long power cuts as Russia zeroed in on energy infrastructure with renewed artillery and missile attacks that have interrupted supply to 40% of the population at the onset of winter.
Ukrenergo said outages could last for several hours with lower temperatures putting additional pressure on networks.
“You always need to prepare for the worst. We understand the enemy wants to destroy our power system in general, to cause long outages,” chief executive Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said.
In the northeast Kharkiv region, overnight shelling and missile strikes on critical infrastructure damaged energy equipment, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Moscow’s attacks on in the past weeks have left millions without heating and electricity.
Meanwhile, Kyiv said Mr Putin has lost another 350 troops, bringing the tally to more than 83,400.
UK intelligence suggests Russian forces are reorganising defences against more major Ukrainian breakthroughs, suggesting Moscow fears more losses.
Separately, the top Ukrainian human-rights investigator released a video of an alleged torture chamber used by Russian forces in Kherson, where captured locals were given electric shocks.
