Live: Russian-occupied Kherson without water and electricity after strike

Issued on: 07/11/2022 – 09:56Modified: 07/11/2022 – 09:58

8:48am: Russian-occupied Kherson without water, electricity after strike 

Ukraine’s Russian-occupied city of Kherson was cut off from water and electricity supplies Sunday after an air strike, and a key dam in the region was also damaged, local officials said.

It is the first time that Kherson – which fell to Moscow’s forces within days of their February offensive – has seen such a power cut.

“In Kherson and a number of other areas in the region, there is temporarily no electricity or water supply,” the city’s Moscow-installed administration said on Telegram. It said it was the “result of an attack organised by the Ukrainian side on the Berislav-Kakhovka highway that saw three concrete poles of high-voltage power lines damaged”.

Energy specialists were working to “quickly” resolve the issue, the Russian-backed authorities said, as they called on people to “remain calm”.

But the head of Ukraine’s regional administration, Yaroslav Yanushevych, blamed Russia for the power outages. He said that in Beryslav city around 1.5 kilometres of electric power lines had been destroyed – cutting off power entirely because the “damage is quite extensive. […] It is impossible to promptly repair the lines – there is a lack of specialists, equipment, and the Russian invaders will not allow this to be done.”

1:53am: Ukraine warns of Russian attacks on energy infrastructure

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned late Sunday of more potential Russian attacks on his country’s energy infrastructure, as officials urged residents in the capital Kyiv to consider making plans to leave as ongoing strikes threaten the power supply, Reuters reported on Sunday.

Zelensky, in his regular nightly address, said Russia was “concentrating forces and means for a possible repetition of mass attacks on our infrastructure. First of all, energy.”

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, and Reuters)