Russia has expanded its strikes from eastern and central Ukraine to energy facilities in previously untargeted western regions, causing widespread blackouts, Arab News reported on Tuesday, citing energy ministry officials and local authorities.
Russia recently resumed attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector, targeting power plants and electricity transmission systems.
“Unfortunately, the enemy continues to deliberately and systematically attack our energy infrastructure,” Ukrainian Deputy Energy Minister Artem Nekrasov said in a televised statement.
He said Russian strikes had hit energy facilities in the central Kirovohrad region, the western regions of Zhytomyr, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil and Khmelnytskyi, and the southern Odesa region.
“As a result of the attacks, some consumers were left without electricity,” he added.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said on Tuesday that an overnight Russian attack had hit three of its energy facilities in the Odesa region, leaving 32,700 households without electricity.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russia had attacked Ukraine’s energy, oil and gas sectors dozens of times in the week since U.S. President Donald Trump announced a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure.
Ukraine had previously said it was ready for an energy ceasefire but had also asked its allies to supply missiles to intercept Russian ballistic missiles used to target its energy infrastructure.
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