Ukraine: Nationwide power cuts amid Russian strikes

Ukraine has reported nationwide blackouts in the aftermath of strikes on its energy infrastructure.

The state electricity operator on Saturday announced blackouts in the capital Kiev and seven other regions of the country.

There will be scheduled blackouts and well as unscheduled emergency outages in the greater Kiev region, as well as several regions around it including Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Poltava and Kharkiv, Ukrenergo said in two separate announcements.

Ukraine's cities have been experiencing water and power disruptions ever since Russian forces launched a massive campaign against the country's energy infrastructure last month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian strikes have destroyed 30 percent of the country’s energy infrastructure, causing “massive blackouts” in the former Soviet republic.

“Another kind of Russian terrorist attacks: targeting energy & critical infrastructure. Since Oct 10, 30% of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed, causing massive blackouts across the country. No space left for negotiations with Putin’s regime,” Zelensky wrote on his Twitter account on October 18.

On Friday, Zelensky reiterated that the strikes had destroyed a large portion of the country’s energy infrastructure much of which had been built by Russians themselves.

In the meantime, Russian forces prevented a Ukrainian "terrorist attack" on Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

A senior Russian official said on Tuesday that Russian special forces thwarted the “terrorist attack” on the nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

Russia, which took control of the plant in March, has given assurance that the actions of its armed forces "don't damage Ukraine's nuclear safety in any way and cause no obstacles to the plant's operation."

SS