A large Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy grid and power cuts
Russia has launched a major attack on Ukraine’s power grid that has caused power outages in much of the country, the electricity operator said Saturday.
Russia continues its attacks on Ukraine, despite the two countries holding US-brokered talks to end the war.
Ukrainian officials accuse Moscow of deliberately targeting energy infrastructure, causing power cuts and leaving thousands of people without heating in temperatures well below zero.
“Russia is launching a new large-scale attack on the facilities of Ukraine’s electricity grid,” Ukrenergo said on Telegram, adding that due to the damage caused by the enemy, emergency power outages have been carried out in most areas.
“The attack is still ongoing. Maintenance work will begin as soon as the security situation permits”.
In related context, the Polish military said it had deployed planes to protect its airspace, as is often the case when Russian shelling of western Ukraine occurred.
Ukraine and Russia have held two rounds of US-sponsored negotiations in Abu Dhabi since January.
The second round of negotiations, held on Wednesday and Thursday, ended without announcing any progress on key issues, particularly the issue of thorny lands, but the two sides exchanged dozens of captured soldiers on the same day.
Moscow accused Kyiv of orchestrating an assassination attempt on a general in Russia’s military intelligence on Friday, wounding him. Kyiv has not issued any comment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the United States wants to stop the war by June, and has offered to host new talks between the two sides next week.
“The United States has offered for the first time that the two negotiating teams in the United States, probably in Miami, meet within a week,” Zelensky said in remarks published on Saturday morning, adding that they say they want to complete the matter by June.
