Russian authorities accused the Ukrainian army of hitting the Kakhovka Dam, as well as nearby pylons.
After two strikes for which Russians and Ukrainians blame each other, the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, which is still occupied by the Russian army despite a Ukrainian push, was without power and water on Sunday, as was the Kakhovka Dam damaged in the same area. Vladimir Saldo, head of the Kherson regional administration installed in Moscow, told Russian broadcaster Rossiya-24 on Sunday that “power should be restored today”.
“Three concrete pylons with high-voltage power lines were damaged by a Ukrainian strike on the Berislav-Kakhovka axis,” the occupation administration said earlier on Telegram. “Currently, there is no electricity or water in the city (Kherson) and in certain districts of the region,” Moscow annexed at the end of September.
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For his part, the head of the Ukrainian military administration of the Kherson region, Yaroslav Yanukhevich, said that “the Russian army blew up 1.5 km of high-voltage power lines” in Berislav. “Occupiers also destroyed high-voltage power lines leading to the city of Kherson,” causing “supply problems” for the city and other communities, according to the same source. This is the first known blackout in Kherson by the Russian army since the start of its offensive in Ukraine on February 24.
Kherson is the main Ukrainian city captured by Russian forces since February. Ukrainian troops have been approaching for weeks. Since the beginning of the conflict, the Ukrainian military has very rarely touched the civilian energy infrastructure seized by the Russians, instead targeting the supply lines of the Russian army. For its part, Russia has used missiles and suicide drones to destroy about 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks, causing power and water cuts in many places, including the capital Kyiv.
“energy deficit”
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a television interview on Sunday that he could not rule out a total blackout scenario in his city. “We calculate different scenarios to resist and be ready,” he says. More than 4.5 million Ukrainians were without power as of Sunday evening, most of them in and around Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address, acknowledging a “very difficult” situation. The state-owned electricity company Ukrenergo is planning a new “energy deficit” for Monday and alternating cuts from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. “Consumption should be reduced by 30%” to stabilize the grid, Ukrenergo explained.
Mr. Zelensky said to be “aware that the terrorist state (Russia) is concentrating forces and means for a possible repeat of massive attacks on our infrastructures, especially energy,” and accused Iran of providing those missiles in Moscow. He said he spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday about how to “increase pressure” on Tehran, whose “complicity with Russian terrorism must be punished.”
A strategic dam
Also on Sunday, the Kakhovka dam, 60 km from Kherson as the crow flies and under Russian control, was hit by a Ukrainian missile without causing any deaths or injuries, Russian occupation authorities said. For its part, the Ukrainian General Staff assured that in Kakhovka “a (Ukrainian) attack was carried out on a building housing up to 200 enemy soldiers” and that the Russians “carefully concealed the consequences of this attack”. The Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, built along the Dnieper, supplies water in particular to the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Quoted by Russian sources, Ruslan Agaev, a representative of the Moscow-installed administration in Nova Kakhovka, the village where this plant is located, assured that the strike “did not cause any critical damage”. The threat of attacks on this strategic facility has been hailed since October by Ukrainians and Russians, who have accused each other of endangering the lives of “thousands” of residents in that part of the region where Kiev troops have been advancing since September. Two weeks ago, the Ukrainian President accused Moscow of undermining “the dam,” one of the largest in Ukraine. “Lies,” responded the Russian occupation authorities.
Over the past three days, Russian occupation authorities have been conducting “evacuations” of civilians in the villages surrounding the site in the face of a “possible rocket attack” on the dam, the destruction of which would result in “flooding of the dam on the left bank of the Dnieper,” according to the local authorities. Kyiv has repeatedly condemned these “deportations” of region residents to less combat-prone areas, even to Russia itself.
Pray
At the scene, a 25-year-old Taiwanese volunteer was killed in action against Russian forces, the first known casualty from Taiwan since the invasion of Ukrainian territory began, the Taipei Foreign Ministry said. In the Sumy region (northeast), a 62-year-old woman was killed and another woman injured in ongoing daytime Russian bombing raids on Vorozhbyanska, which destroyed electricity, gas and railway infrastructure, regional governor Dmytro Zhivitsky wrote on Twitter.
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In the Donetsk region (east), “violent Russian attacks are ongoing (…) The enemy is suffering heavy casualties, but (…) continues to lead their mobilized soldiers and mercenaries to their deaths,” affirmed the Ukrainian president. Visiting Bahrain, Pope Francis said he prayed Sunday for “Ukraine which has been so martyred and for the end of this war” after more than eight months of conflict that has left tens of thousands dead.
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