Russian strikes cut off electricity and water in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region | Ukraine

The Russian strikes cut off electricity and water for a large part of the Kharkiv region, plunging its cities into darkness and cutting off electricity to hospitals. Ukraine It was described as an “act of revenge” by Russia for its recent battlefield successes.

Over the past few days, the Ukrainian forces Regained control of the majority of the territory occupied by Russia in the region in a mistaken attack.

Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv city, said work was underway to restore electricity, and some areas reported that electricity was restored around 1 a.m. on Monday local time.

Earlier, Ukrainian presidential advisers said, however, that a fire broke out at power plant No. 5 in Kharkiv.

There were also initial reports of power outages in the neighboring Sumy and Poltava regions as well as in Dnipropetrovsk, potentially affecting millions of civilians. Now power is back, said Kirillo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office.

Tymoshenko said two cruise missiles had hit critical infrastructure in Kharkiv, that firefighters were now on site and that electricity would soon return to vital facilities such as hospitals.

“The Russians want to leave us without light, water and heat,” Tymoshenko said.

Three explosions were heard in the city of Kharkiv, as a power outage affected the air raid sirens. People had to be evacuated from the Kharkiv metro.

The Ukrainian Air Force tweeted that the Russians had fired 11 missiles, but most of them were destroyed.

“This is a mean and cynical revenge on the Russian aggressor for the successes of our army at the front, in particular – in the Kharkiv region,” said Terekhov. “I ask everyone to remain calm.”

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote in a telegram: “Even through the impenetrable darkness, Ukraine and the civilized world can clearly see that these are terrorist acts. [They are] Deliberate and cynical missile strikes on critical civilian infrastructure. They are not military installations.”

Zelensky confirmed the power outages in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions. He also said that parts of Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions had power problems.

The regional governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Senegubov, said in a statement: “There is no electricity or water supply in several settlements. Emergency services are working to control the fires in the affected sites.”

The head of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Dmytro Reznichenko, said on Sunday evening that Russian forces were responsible for the power outages in his region. Many cities and communities in the Dnipropetrovsk region are without electricity. The Russians hit the energy infrastructure. He said in an online statement before the restoration of power as reported.

The head of the eastern Sumy region said previous interruptions in electricity and water supplies affected at least 135 towns and villages.