In a striking revelation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday morning via social media that a staggering number of Ukrainians—"hundreds of thousands"—are currently facing power outages across various regions. This disruption follows a wave of missile and drone strikes targeting the nation's energy infrastructure, launched by Russian forces.
Zelenskyy detailed that since the previous day, efforts have been underway to restore electricity, heating, and water supplies to affected areas after these aggressive attacks. He noted the situation remains challenging, with numerous families in cities such as Mykolaiv, Odessa, Kherson, Chernihiv, Donetsk, Sumy, and Dnipro still in the dark.
Ukrainian officials have highlighted that Russia’s recent nightly bombardments are strategically aimed at crippling energy and other essential infrastructures, a tactic that has intensified as winter approaches. "Russia is extending the conflict and aims to inflict as much suffering as possible on our population," Zelenskyy asserted. He reported alarming figures from the previous week: over 1,500 strike drones, roughly 900 aerial bombs, and 46 missiles have been deployed against Ukraine.
The onslaught continued into the early hours of Sunday, with the Ukrainian air force reporting a total of one missile and 138 drones launched by Russia overnight. Remarkably, they managed to intercept or neutralize 110 of those drones. However, the missile and ten attack drones still managed to hit six different locations across the country.
On the Russian side, their Defense Ministry claimed the destruction of at least 141 Ukrainian drones during the same timeframe and noted that a further 143 drones were intercepted throughout Saturday.
These military exchanges unfolded against
