Power has been restored to more than 800,000 residents in Kyiv a day after major attacks by Russia on the Ukrainian power grid caused blackouts across much of the country.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK said on Saturday that “the main work to restore the power supply” had been completed, but that some localised outages were still affecting the Ukrainian capital following Friday’s “massive” Russian attacks.
Russian drone and missile strikes wounded at least 20 people in Kyiv, damaged residential buildings and caused blackouts across swathes of Ukraine early on Friday.
Emergency services personnel work at the scene following a Russian attack in Brovary, near Kyiv, Ukraine (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko described the attack as “one of the largest concentrated strikes” against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Russia’s Defence Ministry on Friday said the strikes had targeted energy facilities supplying Ukraine’s military.
It did not give details of those facilities, but said Russian forces used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and strike drones against them.
The energy sector has been a key battleground since Russia launched its all-out invasion more than three years ago.
Each year, Russia has tried to cripple the Ukrainian power grid before the bitter winter season, apparently hoping to erode public morale.
Winter temperatures run from late October through to March, with January and February the coldest months.
Ukraine’s air force said on Saturday that its air defences intercepted or jammed 54 of 78 Russian drones launched against Ukraine overnight, while Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had shot down 42 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.
The latest round of attacks came after the leaders of Britain, France and Germany said on Friday they had agreed in a phone call to use the value of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s armed forces.
In a statement published by the German government, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said they would act “in close co-operation with the United States”.
The leaders said the joint action would “increase pressure” on Russian President Vladimir Putin and “bring Russia to the negotiation table”.