Ukraine Races to Secure Energy Following Russian Strikes

Around 100,000 people were still without power in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, Kyiv authorities said Sunday, a day after Russia's latest attacks on energy infrastructure. Moscow, which has escalated attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure in recent months, launched hundreds of drones at energy facilities across the country overnight into Saturday.

Some of these strikes affected the Kharkiv region, home to Ukraine's second biggest city, Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said. "Time is needed to restart the equipment. Currently, around 100,000 consumers remain without electricity, water, and heating," Kuleba said. Ukraine's energy minister Svitlana Grynchuk said the wave of attacks, which killed four people, marked "one of the most difficult nights" for Ukrainian energy since the Russian invasion began. In the Poltava region, one of the most affected, power was mostly restored on Sunday.

But damaged equipment left parts of its main city still in the dark, local authorities said. State energy operator Ukrenergo implemented scheduled power cuts, allowing to balance the system, in most Ukrainian regions. Russia has targeted the power and heating grid throughout its almost four- year invasion, destroying a large part of the key civilian infrastructure. - 'Complicates restoration' - Moscow has switched tactics, striking simultaneously generation facilities, as well as power transmission and distribution systems, said deputy Minister of Energy Artem Nekrasov.

"This complicates the prompt restoration of normal power supply and the normal operation of the energy system," he said. As with previous waves of attacks, Russia's defence ministry said it struck "enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and gas and energy facilities that support their operation." Ukraine has been responding with strikes on Russia's energy and oil facilities. Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure have left more than 20,000 people without power in several Russian border regions, local authorities said. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the "electricity and heating supply network has suffered severe damage" in the regional capital of the same name.

"Several streets are affected by power issues... More than 20,000 residents are without electricity," he said on Telegram. In the western Kursk region, "a fire broke out at one of the power plants in the village of Korenevo," cutting power to 10 localities, Governor Alexander Khinshtein said on Telegram. A fire also broke out at a heating facility in the southern Voronezh region, according to Governor Alexander Gusev. Russia's defence ministry, for its part, reported having shot down 44 drones over the border Bryansk region. Moscow launched 69 drones at energy facilities across the country overnight into Sunday, of which 34 were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force.