Plumes of smoke are seen on the western side of the Dnipro River.
Russian forces once more targeted Ukraine’s energy facilities, cutting off electricity and water for part of the capital, Kyiv, and other cities.
A presidential adviser said the situation across Ukraine was now critical.
Prosecutors say two people were killed in an attack on the capital. Plumes of smoke were seen rising from the vicinity of a power station near the Dnipro River.
Electricity and water were cut off in Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv, and two facilities were severely damaged in Dnipro.
“Everyone must be prepared, firstly to provide electricity, and secondly because it is possible that the power outages will continue if the raids continue. All residents must prepare for a harsh winter,” said Kirilo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter on Tuesday that regarding 30 percent of Ukraine’s power stations had been destroyed in the past eight days, “causing power outages across the country”.
The Ukrainian energy company said that two of its thermal power stations were badly damaged by the Russian bombing, killing one worker and wounding six others.
Russia has intensified its attacks in recent weeks on electricity infrastructure in cities far from the front lines.
Officials were quick to repair the damage, but continued raids before winter raised concerns regarding how the regime would respond.
photo released, DSNS Ukraine
Firefighting teams battled two major fires in Kyiv.
The latest attacks came 24 hours following at least nine people were killed in Kyiv and Sumei by “kamikaze” drones, believed to have been supplied by Iran to Russia. The raids of those planes on infrastructure caused power outages in hundreds of towns and villages.
It was not initially clear to what extent drones were involved in Tuesday’s attacks, though Ukraine said Russian bombers had fired missiles and that an S-300 anti-aircraft missile hit an apartment building in the southern city of Mykolaiv overnight, killing one person. The flower market in the city was also destroyed.
Presidential aide Kirilo Tymoshenko said in Kyiv that the Troychina district on the bank of the Dnipro River and some other residential areas were left without electricity and water.
Other attacks took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning:
- In Zhytomyr, the mayor said that there is no electricity or water in the city and that hospitals are running on backup power
- Officials said that 11 villages in the Zhytomyr region are without electricity
- Electricity and water supplies were disrupted in downtown Dnipro, where a large power facility was destroyed. Officials said street lighting would be stopped
- Artillery shelling on the city of Kharkiv in the north-east of the country
- Infrastructure in the southern city of Zaporizhia was damaged, although local officials said no one was hurt.
- In some cities, Ukrainians are buying power generators and gas stoves, while authorities have urged people across the country to reduce their energy consumption at peak times. Some towns are already facing constant power outages.
In a separate development, the Ukrainian state nuclear energy company accused Moscow of kidnapping two senior officials at its nuclear plant in Zaporizhia. The station was occupied by Russian forces, but its Ukrainian crew continues to work there under difficult conditions.
“We were expecting Russia to intensify its attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure and increase urban warfare by the fall, and here we are,” Ukrainian MP Lesya Vasylenko told the BBC.
photo released, Telegram
A pilot managed to jump out of the burning plane.
Britain’s Defense Intelligence, in its latest assessment, said it was highly likely that Russia had become increasingly prepared to strike civilian infrastructure, as well as military targets, following setbacks on the battlefield in recent weeks.
The missile attacks and those by Russian drones were met with renewed calls from the Ukrainian government to deliver air defense missiles.
Earlier, the United States said it had agreed with its French and British allies that Iran’s supply of drones to Russia violates a United Nations Security Council resolution related to the nuclear deal, and prohibits the transfer of some military technology.
Ukraine identified the drones used in the deadly attacks on Kyiv and Sumy as Shahid-136 UAVs.
Vidant Patel of the US State Department said the US would not hesitate to use sanctions.
Russia and Iran both denied deploying Iranian drones. The European Union said it was gathering evidence and was ready to act.
Meanwhile, in one of the largest prisoner exchanges since the start of the Russian war in February, Russia and Ukraine exchanged 218 detainees – including 108 Ukrainian women.
A Russian fighter plane crashed across the Sea of Azov from Ukraine in the courtyard of an apartment building in the southern Russian town of Yeisk.
At least 13 people were killed, including three children, while dozens of residents were rescued from the nine-storey building.
The pilot managed to eject from the plane, which was a Su-34.
