RB News World Latest News
Related Articles
Kiev: Ukraine imposed emergency power cuts across much of the country on Sunday, a day after Russia launched massive attacks on energy infrastructure and claimed gains in eastern Donetsk province. Power was cut off in all but three regions of Ukraine after drone and missile attacks targeting power plants on Saturday. At least 19 people were injured in the attacks. Ukraine’s state-owned power grid operator Ukrenergo said the power outages affected both industrial and domestic consumers.
Forced to impose blackouts
Frequent Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid in recent weeks have forced the government to impose blackouts across the country. The absence of adequate air defenses to counter and repair attacks could worsen power shortages as demand surges in late summer and winter. The attack in April was one of the biggest recent attacks, damaging Kiev’s largest thermal power plant. Another major attack took place on May 8, damaging power generation and power distribution installations in several areas. Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday that air defence forces shot down all 25 drones overnight, following the attacks on Saturday.
Control over Umanske village
Russia claimed on Sunday that it had seized control of the village of Umanske in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region. Russia’s new coordinated offensive is focused on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, but appears to be testing Ukrainian defences in Donetsk in the south and also trying to penetrate northern Sumy and Chernihiv regions. In Russia, six people were injured in shelling in the town of Shebekino in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Sunday. He also said the deputy head of the Korochensky district was killed in the attack by “exploding ammunition”. He gave no details.
Three people were injured when an explosive device was dropped from a drone in the neighbouring Kursk region on Sunday, according to acting regional chief Alexei Smirnov. Addressing Asia’s premier security conference in Singapore, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday accused China of helping Russia disrupt an upcoming Swiss-hosted peace conference on the Ukraine war. White House national security communications adviser John Kirby also confirmed on Sunday that President Joe Biden has agreed to allow Ukraine to use some weapons provided by the US to strike inside Russia to ease the “unprecedented pressure” being exerted by Russia on Kharkiv.
