Russian authorities accused the Ukrainian army of hitting the Kakhovka dam, as well as nearby pylons.
After two strikes for which Russians and Ukrainians blame each other, the city of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, still occupied by the Russian army despite a Ukrainian push, was without electricity or water on Sunday and the Kakhovka dam, in the same area, was damaged. Vladimir Saldo, head of the Moscow-installed Kherson regional administration, told Russian channel Rossiya-24 that “power should be back today” sunday.
“Three concrete pylons carrying high-voltage lines were damaged on the Berislav-Kakhovka axisby a Ukrainian strike, the occupation administration had earlier claimed on Telegram. “Currently, there is no electricity or water in the city (of Kherson) and in some districts of the region», annexed by Moscow at the end of September.
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For his part, the head of the Ukrainian military administration of the Kherson region, Yaroslav Yanouchevych, declared that “the Russian army blew up power lines» over a length of 1.5 km in Berislav. “The occupiers also destroyed high-voltage lines leading to the city of Kherson“, causing “supply problemsfor the city and other municipalities, according to the same source. This is the first known power and water cut in Kherson, at the hands of the Russian army since the start of its offensive in Ukraine on February 24.
Kherson is the main Ukrainian city taken by Russian forces since February. Ukrainian troops have been closing in for several weeks. Since the start of the conflict, the Ukrainian military has very rarely touched the civilian energy infrastructures that the Russians have seized, targeting instead the supply lines of the Russian army. Russia, for its part, has destroyed about 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks with the help of missiles and suicide drones, which have caused power and water cuts in many places, including the capital Kyiv.
“Energy deficit»
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a television interview on Sunday that he could not rule out a total blackout scenario in his city. “We calculate different scenarios in order to resist and be readyhe says. More than 4.5 million Ukrainians were without electricity on Sunday evening, most of them in Kyiv and its region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address, acknowledging a situation “very difficult“. The national electricity company Ukrenergo is planning a new “energy deficit» for Monday and rotating cuts from 06:00 until the evening. “Consumption should be reduced by 30%to stabilize the network, Ukrenergo explained.
Mr. Zelensky said “be aware that the terrorist state (Russia) is concentrating forces and means for a possible repetition of massive attacks on our infrastructures, in particular energyand accused Iran of supplying Moscow with missiles for this purpose. He said he discussed on Sunday with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, how to “increase the pressureon Tehran, whosecomplicity with Russian terrorism must be punished“.
A strategic dam
Also on Sunday, the Kakhovka dam, located 60 km as the crow flies from Kherson and under Russian control, was hit by a Ukrainian missile, without causing any death or injury, according to the Russian occupation authorities. The Ukrainian general staff, for its part, assured that in Kakhovka, “a (Ukrainian) attack was carried out on a building housing up to 200 enemy soldiers» and that the Russians «carefully hide the consequences of this attack“. The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, built along the Dnieper, notably supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014 by Moscow.
Quoted by Russian agencies, Rouslan Agaev, representative of the administration installed by Moscow in Nova Kakhovka, the village where this work is located, assured that the strike “did not cause critical damage“. The risk of strikes on this strategic installation has been brandished since October by the Ukrainians and the Russians, who accuse each other of endangering the lives of “thousandsof inhabitants in this part of the region where kyiv troops have been advancing since September. The Ukrainian president had accused Moscow two weeks ago of havingmined the dam», one of the largest in Ukraine. “Liesreacted the Russian occupation authorities.
Over the past three days, the Russian occupation authorities have carried out in the villages around the site “evacuations” of civilians facing a “possible missile attackon the dam, the destruction of which would lead tothe flooding of the left bankof the Dnieper, according to local authorities. kyiv has repeatedly condemned these “deportationsof the region’s inhabitants to territories less exposed to combat, and even to Russia itself.
Pray
On the ground, a 25-year-old Taiwanese volunteer against Russian forces was killed in action, the first known casualty from Taiwan since the start of the invasion of Ukrainian territory, the Foreign Ministry said in Taipei. . In the Sumy region (north-east), a 62-year-old woman was killed and another woman injured in sustained daytime Russian bombardments on Vorozhbyanska, which included destroying electricity, gas and railway infrastructure, wrote on Twitter regional governor Dmytro Zhivitsky.
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In the Donetsk region (east), “violent Russian attacks are in progress (…) The enemy suffers heavy losses but (…) continues to lead his mobilized soldiers and his mercenaries to death“, affirmed the Ukrainian president. Traveling to Bahrain, Pope Francis said he prayed on Sunday for “Ukraine so martyred and for this war to endafter more than eight months of conflict that left tens of thousands dead.
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