'Millions without power in Ukraine,' says Zelensky; Moscow blames Kiev
Ukraine's president says that more than 10 million Ukrainians have been left without power following Russian strikes across his country, but Moscow blames Kiev's refusal to negotiate for the blackouts and their fallout.
"Currently, more than 10 million Ukrainians are without electricity," Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday, adding, "We are doing everything to normalize the supply."
Ukraine says Russia, which has been conducting a military operation in its southern neighbor since February, has been targeting the ex-Soviet republic's power grid over the past many days.
"Damage to Ukraine's electricity infrastructure has been so extensive that authorities have been imposing power cuts to relieve the grid," AFP reported.
The capital's regional administration said Ukrainian missile systems had brought down four missiles and five drones.
The head of the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, Valentyn Reznichenko, also said strikes had hit the region's administrative center. "An industrial enterprise has been hit. There is a big fire," he said.
In the southern Odessa region, a Russian strike reportedly targeted infrastructure, and the governor urged residents to seek shelter amid the likelihood of further attacks.
The eastern region of Kharkiv was also struck, governor Oleg Synegubov announced, adding that Russia had hit "critical infrastructure" in strikes that injured at least three people.
Moscow, however, said Kiev was ultimately to blame for the entire situation.
"The unwillingness of the Ukrainian side to settle the problem, to start negotiations, its refusal to seek common ground -- this is their consequence," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Moscow says it launched the operation in order to defend the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk against persecution by Kiev.
Back in 2014, the two republics broke away from Ukraine, refusing to recognize a Western-backed Ukrainian government there that had overthrown a democratically-elected Russia-friendly administration.
Ever since the beginning of the war, Western countries have been pumping Ukraine full of advanced weapons, something that Russia says would only prolong the hostilities.
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