Zelensky Says Russian Strikes Cut Power to Thousands in Ukraine
A rare six-day humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine’s front-line Kherson region expired at 22:59 Ukrainian time on Sunday, ending a brief window that allowed civilians to evacuate the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky. As the local truce lapsed, widespread Russian missile strikes cut power to hundreds of thousands of households across four Ukrainian regions, bbc.co.uk reported.
Oleshky Ceasefire Expires as Front-Line Fighting Continues
The localized ceasefire around Oleshky held through its final day on Sunday, providing a temporary corridor for civilian evacuations. Yet, fighting persisted elsewhere along the active front line, according to bbc.co.uk and nbcnews.com. While the Oleshky truce expired on Sunday night, neither side signaled an immediate extension of localized humanitarian pauses.
Russian Strikes on Power Infrastructure Cause Regional Blackouts
Russian strikes targeted power infrastructure across four Ukrainian regions overnight on Saturday, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the intensity of the strikes was extremely high. Emergency power cuts subsequently took effect nationwide. In the capital of Kyiv, electricity is cut off for most of the day, causing severe disruptions to water supplies.
Repair crews worked throughout Sunday to restore connections. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region reported that most customers had power restored by early evening, though more than 60,000 residents remained without electricity. In the Vinnytsia region, an overnight strike killed two people, including a 13-year-old girl, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine stated.
Simultaneous Industrial and Fuel Site Attacks
While Ukraine dealt with extensive blackouts, cross-border drone strikes hit industrial and fuel production targets inside Russia. Zelenskyy said that a Ukrainian strike hit a major missile fuel producer—the Kamensky plant in Russia’s Rostov region—causing a fire and damaging four production facilities, bbc.co.uk reported. Moscow did not issue a comment regarding the Rostov site.
Zelenskyy Requests More Patriot Systems to Counter Missile Deficit
Zelenskyy warned that Moscow is seeking to maximally exploit a deficit of ballistic missile interceptors in Ukraine. He emphasized that Ukraine communicates its urgent need for Patriot missile systems daily to the United States, Europe, and international partners. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, speaking to state TV channel Vesti on Sunday, did not address the Nizhny Novgorod strike directly. Novak asserted that Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries contribute to global fuel market imbalances and affect prices.