Russia has hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure hard, slamming plans for a multinational military presence in the country after a ceasefire.
Ukrainian authorities are scrambling to restore power to the southeast after hundreds of thousands of people were plunged into darkness in the depths of winter after massive Russian attacks on critical infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that the overnight attacks were aimed at “shattering” his country, cutting off “electricity, heating and water supplies” in Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk, with repair crews still struggling to restore services in the latter region.
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He called on allies to respond to Russia’s “deliberate harassment” of Ukraine.
“There is no military logic in these kinds of attacks on the energy sector and infrastructure that leave people without electricity and hot water in winter,” he said.
As in previous winters, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine Energy sites As the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion approaches, Kiev and its allies call it a deliberate strategy to target the civilian population.
More than 1 million people were affected in the industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba.
Military chief Vladislav Gaivanenko said Dnipropetrovsk’s vital energy infrastructure had been damaged.
About 800,000 people in the area remained without power early Thursday, the Energy Ministry said. Eight mines across the region faced blackouts, but workers were evacuated.
Mykola Lukashuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council, said it could take a day to restore water supplies to the strategic city of Pavlohrad.
Ivan Fedorov, the governor of Zaporizhia, where power was restored Thursday, said his region had faced a total blackout for the first time in “recent years,” but that officials responded quickly.
“A tough night for the region. But the ‘light’ always wins,” he wrote in a telegram on Thursday.
Reporting from Kiev, Al Jazeera’s Audrey McAlpine said: “It’s not just power, but also the emergency air alarm system. It’s an alert system that warns citizens of incoming bomb threats or drone threats.”
McAlpine said mobile networks in the Zaporizhia region were also down. “Regional governors are warning people to limit their mobile phone use as a result,” she said.
Ukraine’s air force said on Thursday that Russia carried out the attack with 97 drones, 70 of which were shot down by its air defense systems and 27 were attacked in various locations.
‘Axis of War’
Kiev has responded to long-standing targeting of its energy grid Attack on Russian oil depots and refineriesMoscow is trying to cut off vital energy exports and create fuel shortages.
On Thursday, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying Moscow would consider the presence of any foreign troops in Ukraine “a legitimate military target for the Russian armed forces”.
The statement came after Ukraine’s allies agreed on key security guarantees for Kiev Summit in Paris This week, the United Kingdom and France pledged to deploy troops to Ukrainian territory in the event of a ceasefire with Russia.
However, Ukraine said this week that key issues of territorial control of the eastern Donbass region and the fate of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant remain unresolved.
Russia said on Thursday it had taken the village of Bratske in Dnipropetrovsk region, where its troops have been advancing for months, even though Moscow has not officially claimed the territory.
“The latest military declarations of the so-called coalition of the willing and the Kiev regime have made a true ‘axis of war,'” the foreign ministry said, labeling plans for a multinational force in Ukraine as “increasingly dangerous and destructive.”