President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine is moving toward an emergency shutdown to stabilize its power grid after Monday’s Russian missile attacks.
Many areas have been affected, he said, and local authorities have warned that almost half of Kyiv will remain without power in the coming days.
Regional officials said overnight more missiles hit critical infrastructure and residential buildings near the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.
No casualties were reported.
Four people were killed in the attacks on Monday.
Ukraine is now seeing snow and sub-zero temperatures in many areas, and millions of people are without electricity and running water. It is feared that many people may die from hypothermia.
In a separate development on Tuesday, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region said a drone attack on an airport set an oil storage tank on fire.
Roman Starovet said there were no casualties, but two local schools were closed for the day. He did not say who might be behind the attack in the region bordering Ukraine.
In a video address late on Monday, President Zelensky said 70 Russian missiles had been launched on Monday and “most of them were shot down”.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it hit all 17 of its intended targets “using highly accurate weapons during a large-scale attack”.
“The largest number of shutdowns are in Vinetsia, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Khmelnytskyi and Cherkasy regions,” he said, referring to regions spread across the length and breadth of the country.
But he vowed that authorities would “do everything to restore stability”.
Mr Zelenskiy said electricity supplies had also been affected in neighboring Moldova, proving that Russia’s actions “are a threat not only to Ukraine but to our entire region”.
