Fresh attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, by Russia have left more than 1,100 apartment buildings without power, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.
According to the president, over 200 repair crews have been deployed to work quickly to restore electricity to affected parts of the country.
“As of today, the toughest situation is in Kyiv and the region, Kharkiv and the region, Sumy region, and Poltava region,” Zelensky wrote on social media, according to a BBC report.
“It is also difficult in other parts of central Ukraine, including the Dnipro and Cherkasy regions.”
He added that more repair teams would be brought in to help restore power “to ensure proper rotation of crew members – people are exhausted.”
Residents have been forced to spend the night sheltering in Kyiv’s metro stations, with some pitching tents on the platforms to protect themselves from the freezing cold.
Authorities have set up warming centres across the city, and more generators are being imported to cope with prolonged blackouts as engineers work to repair the damaged infrastructure.
In the eastern city of Kharkiv, a power plant has reportedly been damaged beyond repair.
Ukraine’s Energy Minister, Denys Shmyhal, said the national energy system would take time to fix. This includes Kyiv’s Darnytsia Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant, which he said had been “severely damaged.”
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector—carried out as temperatures plunged to -20°C (-4°F)—as “barbaric” and “particularly depraved.”
He made the remarks following a phone call with US President Donald Trump hours after Russia struck power plants and critical infrastructure in Kyiv and other regions.
Trump told reporters that President Vladimir Putin had “kept his word” on the week-long pause.
“The agreement was on Sunday, and Putin went from Sunday to Sunday,” Trump said when asked whether he was disappointed by Russia’s renewed attacks. “It’s a lot—you know, one week. We’ll take anything, because it’s really, really cold over there.”
The US president has been leading diplomatic efforts to end the war, but his Russian counterpart has rejected calls for a ceasefire.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it was targeted by more than 100 drones. While most were intercepted, drone strikes were reported in 14 locations, along with incidents of falling debris.
About seven people were killed and eight injured in the eastern Donetsk region, according to its governor, Vadym Filashkin.
He wrote on Telegram that Russian forces had hit the city with cluster munitions, including a busy market.
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