Relentless Russian attacks on energy infrastructure prompted Ukrainian authorities on Friday to announce worsening blackouts around the country's largest cities.
Relentless Russian attacks on energy infrastructure prompted Ukrainian authorities on Friday to announce worsening blackouts around the country's largest cities, with Kyiv's mayor warning that the capital's power grid is working in "emergency mode" with energy supplies down as much as 50 per cent from pre-war levels.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said power outages were affecting about 4 million people across the country. He said last week that 30 per cent of Ukraine's power stations had been destroyed since Russia launched the first wave of targeted infrastructure strikes on Oct. 10. Officials across the war-torn country have urged people to conserve by reducing electricity consumption during peak hours and avoiding the use of high-voltage appliances.
Activists and reports by Russian media and The Associated Press said many of the draftees were inexperienced, were told to procure basic items such as medical kits and flak jackets themselves, and did not receive training before they were sent off to fight. Some were killed within days of being called up.
Moscow also pressed its ground advance on the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiikva after a string of setbacks in the east. The fighting has turned the entire Donetsk region into "a zone of active hostilities," according to Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko.