Ukraine says Russia's missile attacks have crippled almost half of its energy system

As the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to escalate with Russian attackers being relentless in their pursuit of invading Ukrainian territory, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that a recent Russian strike had created massive damage to Ukraine's energy system, leaving millions of countrymen without electricity.

Notably, this damage comes at a time when winter is around the corner with temperatures dropping below freezing. Meanwhile, one of the officials in Kyiv has warned that the residents of the city are likely to witness a "complete shutdown" of its power grid.

Almost half of Ukraine's energy system disabled, says Ukrainian PM Shmyhal

On Friday, Shmyhal said that "unfortunately, Russia continues to carry out missile strikes on Ukraine's civilian and critical infrastructure. Almost half of our energy system is disabled," he added.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stated that around 10 million Ukrainians have been left without power and a total of 17 regions, including the capital city, are in a difficult situation with energy supplies. "The difficult situation with energy supply persists in a total of 17 regions and in the capital," said Zelenskyy in his nightly address on Friday. There were "significantly fewer emergency shutdowns" during the day as energy industry workers were trying to restore power, he added.

Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Kyiv administration Mykola Povoroznyk asserted that the city is "preparing for different scenarios, including a complete shutdown." However, he did not talk about the evacuation of people from the city. On Thursday, Russian missiles struck Ukraine's energy installations and civilian buildings, a second heavy attack in the last two days. Notably, reports suggest that Russia has been using this tactic after facing defeat on the battlefield. The Kremlin has said that these attacks are being carried out because Kyiv is showing an "unwillingness" to hold peace talks.

Image: AP