The region’s energy authority has warned that repairing the damage after Friday’s attack could take weeks and possibly up to three months.
“After the nightly Iranian drone attack, Odessa and other cities and villages in the region have plunged into darkness,” Zelensky said. “Currently, more than 1.5 million people in the Odessa region are without electricity,” he added.
“The city is without electricity at the moment,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on his Telegram account. However, he said basic infrastructure, especially hospitals and maternity wards, is powered by electricity. “The situation is still difficult, but it’s under control,” Tymoshenko said.
The governor of the Odessa region, Maxim Marchenko, confirmed that Russia attacked the city on Friday night with “suicide marches”. “Because of the strikes, electricity has been cut off in almost all districts and communities in our region,” he said. Marchenko added that Ukrainian air defense units shot down two drones.
On Friday, Kiev indicated that the country’s war-torn southern regions, including Odessa, were experiencing the worst power outages, days after the latest round of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid.
Russia launched dozens of cruise missiles at key infrastructure on Monday, straining the country’s ailing network after repeated attacks.
