Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that emergency services were working to ease power outages in many regions of Ukraine after Russian attacks, particularly in the Black Sea port of Odessa.
“At this moment it has become possible to partially restore supplies to Odessa and other cities and regions of the region.
“We are doing our best to reach as many people as possible in the circumstances that have arisen after the Russian attacks,” he added.
Russian forces used Iranian-made drones to bomb two power plants in Odessa on Saturday, cutting off electricity to an estimated 1.5 million people.
Zelensky said Odessa is “among the regions with the most frequent power outages.”
I held a staff meeting. Front line, restoration of energy infrastructure, intelligence data on the plans of the occupiers, internal challenges. We work out everything in detail. Restoration continues in the south of our country – we are doing everything to restore the light supply in Odessa. We have already partially restored it in Odessa and other districts of the region. We are doing everything to get the most out of the Russian coups. Kyiv and the region, the Lviv region, the Vinnytsia region, Ternopil and the region, Chernivtsi and the region, Zakarpattia, the Sumy region, the Dnipropetrovsk region – the situation remains very difficult. We are constantly working with partners to mitigate the situation and energize our staff. By decision of the NSDC, sanctions were applied against 7 people. We are doing everything to ensure that the aggressor state does not have a single thread of Ukrainian society to pull. Thank you to everyone who protects our country! Thanks to all who fight for Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine!
Published by Volodymyr Zelensky Sunday 11 December 2022
Moscow has targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in a series of missile and drone attacks since October.
Ukrainian authorities said residents who depend solely on electricity to power their homes should consider leaving.
Officials said Russian strikes hit major transportation and equipment lines in the early hours of Saturday.
“According to preliminary forecasts, it will take much longer to repair power plants in the Odessa region than in previous attacks,” he added.
Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port city, had a population of over a million before the February 24 Russian invasion.
Kiev says Russia has launched hundreds of Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones on targets in Ukraine and describes the attacks as war crimes due to their devastating impact on civilian lives. Moscow says the attacks are militarily legitimate.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said Iranian Shahed-136 drones hit two energy plants in the Odessa region.
And the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote on Facebook that 15 of these drones, which can carry explosives and fly to their targets, were fired at targets in the southern regions of Odessa and Mykolaiv, but 10 of them were shot down.
The British Defense Ministry said on Saturday it believed Iran’s military support for Russia was likely to increase in the coming months, including possible deliveries of ballistic missiles.
