Rescuers stand next to a building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine October 18, 2022. REUTERS / Valentyn Ogirenko
Rescuers stand next to a building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine October 18, 2022. REUTERS / Valentyn Ogirenko
Rescuers stand next to a building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine October 18, 2022. REUTERS / Valentyn Ogirenko
Rescuers stand next to a building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine October 18, 2022. REUTERS / Valentyn Ogirenko

Ukrainian cities go dark as new air strikes hit power stations


Paul Carey
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More air strikes pummelled Ukraine on Tuesday morning, leaving cities in darkness, as Russia continues to attack the country's power stations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of terrorising and killing civilians in its latest attacks.

Ukraine said it shot down 38 of the 43 drones Russia used to launch strikes on Monday.

But there were power cuts across the country on Tuesday following attacks, which Mr Zelenskyy said have destroyed one third of the country’s stations in the past 10 days.

Several regions, including the capital Kyiv, were experiencing power cuts after several strikes hit energy facilities, local officials and agencies said.

“Ukraine is under fire by the occupiers. They continue to do what they do best — terrorise and kill civilians,” Mr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“The terrorist state will not change anything for itself with such actions. It will only confirm its destructive and murderous essence, for which it will certainly be held to account.

“Russia doesn’t have any chance on the battlefield, and it tries to compensate for its military defeats with terror.

“Why this terror? To put pressure on us, on Europe, on the entire world.”

One person was killed in a strike on a residential building on the southern city of Mykolaiv, he said, without giving other details of casualties.

Russia also attacked energy infrastructure in northern Kyiv, causing several explosions and sending smoke rising over the city, Ukrainian officials and witnesses said.

Many settlements in Zhytomyr region, west of Kyiv, and parts of Dnipro city in central Ukraine were without electricity, while power was restored to Mykolaiv after strikes overnight.

“There is currently no light or water in the city. Hospitals are on reserve [power] supplies,” Zhytomyr mayor Serhiy Sukhomlyn wrote on Facebook.

The governor of southern Zaporizhzhia region, which is partly occupied by Russia, reported a fire caused by drone strikes at an infrastructure facility.

Russia said on Tuesday that a technical malfunction caused a military Sukhoi Su-34 plane to crash into a residential building in Yeysk, near Ukraine, killing 15 people.

Investigators are questioning the pilots, who managed to eject before the plane crashed into the nine-storey building on Monday.

Smoke rises on the outskirts of Kyiv following a Russian air strike. Reuters
Smoke rises on the outskirts of Kyiv following a Russian air strike. Reuters

Meanwhile, Ukraine's state nuclear energy agency accused Moscow on Tuesday of detaining two senior employees at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

In a statement on social media, Energoatom said Russian forces had “kidnapped” Oleg Kostyukov, head of information technology, and Oleg Osheka, the plant's assistant general director, on Monday, taking them “to an unknown destination”.

Russia stepped up its offensive across Ukraine on Monday, cutting electricity supplies and killing eight people in attacks that included the use of kamikaze drone strikes in the capital.

President Vladimir Putin is thought to be trying to counter battlefield losses in its eight-month war in Ukraine by waging a punitive policy of striking energy infrastructure before winter, in a move that he hopes will weaken resistance.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Russia launched five strikes against Kyiv and against energy infrastructure in Sumy and the central Dnipropetrovsk regions, knocking out electricity to hundreds of towns and villages.

Four people were killed in Kyiv, including a married couple expecting a baby, and another four in the north-east region of Sumy, officials said.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba demanded that the EU impose sanctions against Iran, which Kyiv accuses of providing Russia with drones.

Ukraine's military said it shot down eight Iranian-made drones and two Russian cruise missiles on Monday.

While Iran denies exporting any weapons to either side, the US has warned it would take action against companies and nations working with Tehran's drone programme, following the strikes in Kyiv.

The strikes come a week after Russian missiles rained down on Kyiv and other cities on October 10, in the biggest wave of attacks in months. These strikes killed at least 19 people and wounded 105, sparking international outcry.

Those strikes followed an attack on the Kerch bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

Senior Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak called for Russia to be excluded from the G20 following the strikes.

“Those who give orders to attack critical infrastructure, to freeze civilians and organise total mobilisation to cover the front line with corpses cannot sit at the same table with leaders of [the] G20,” he said on social media as he called for Russia to be “expelled from all platforms”.

Ukraine war latest - in pictures

  • Smoke rises on the outskirts of the city during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Reuters
    Smoke rises on the outskirts of the city during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Reuters
  • Workers surround the Monument to the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred with sandbags against damage from shelling in Mykolaiv. EPA
    Workers surround the Monument to the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred with sandbags against damage from shelling in Mykolaiv. EPA
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev for talks before a meeting between the Russian president and the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Russia. AFP
    Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev for talks before a meeting between the Russian president and the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Russia. AFP
  • People take water from a water pump in Kyiv. EPA
    People take water from a water pump in Kyiv. EPA
  • A woman walks past a damaged building in the town of Nova Kakhovka. Reuters
    A woman walks past a damaged building in the town of Nova Kakhovka. Reuters
  • A woman outside her home, which was destroyed during battles at the start of the conflict, in Yahidne, Chernihiv. Getty Images
    A woman outside her home, which was destroyed during battles at the start of the conflict, in Yahidne, Chernihiv. Getty Images
  • People shelter inside a subway station during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Reuters
    People shelter inside a subway station during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Reuters
  • Firefighters at the site of a drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP
    Firefighters at the site of a drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP
  • A woman walks past the site of a Russian missile strike in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. Reuters
    A woman walks past the site of a Russian missile strike in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. Reuters
  • Rescuer workers at a building destroyed in an attack in Mykolaiv. Reuters
    Rescuer workers at a building destroyed in an attack in Mykolaiv. Reuters
  • Parts of a drone lie on a street in Kyiv. Reuters
    Parts of a drone lie on a street in Kyiv. Reuters
  • A drone flies over the Ukrainian capital during an attack. AFP
    A drone flies over the Ukrainian capital during an attack. AFP
  • Ukrainian servicemen tow a captured Russian armoured vehicle in Rudneve village, Kharkiv. EPA
    Ukrainian servicemen tow a captured Russian armoured vehicle in Rudneve village, Kharkiv. EPA
  • A partially destroyed residential building in Saltivka, in Kharkiv. AP
    A partially destroyed residential building in Saltivka, in Kharkiv. AP
  • Ukrainian servicemen fire a captured Russian howitzer on a front line near Kupyansk city, Kharkiv. EPA
    Ukrainian servicemen fire a captured Russian howitzer on a front line near Kupyansk city, Kharkiv. EPA
  • Ukrainian servicemen near the recently retaken town of Lyman in Donetsk region. AFP
    Ukrainian servicemen near the recently retaken town of Lyman in Donetsk region. AFP
  • An officer from a Ukrainian national police emergency demining team prepares to detonate collected anti-tank mines and explosives near Lyman, in the Donetsk region. AFP
    An officer from a Ukrainian national police emergency demining team prepares to detonate collected anti-tank mines and explosives near Lyman, in the Donetsk region. AFP
  • A boy playing on a destroyed Russian tank on display in Kyiv. AFP
    A boy playing on a destroyed Russian tank on display in Kyiv. AFP
  • A young couple hiding underground during an air alert in Zaporizhzhia. AFP
    A young couple hiding underground during an air alert in Zaporizhzhia. AFP
  • Ukrainian firefighters looking for survivors after a strike in Zaporizhzhia. AFP
    Ukrainian firefighters looking for survivors after a strike in Zaporizhzhia. AFP
  • Workers fix a banner reading 'Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson - Russia!' to the State Historical Museum near Red Square in Moscow. AFP
    Workers fix a banner reading 'Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson - Russia!' to the State Historical Museum near Red Square in Moscow. AFP
  • Residents try to cross a destroyed bridge in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. AFP
    Residents try to cross a destroyed bridge in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. AFP
  • Alyona Kishinskaya helps to clean up a shop as it prepares to reopen in Balakiya, Ukraine, after a six-month Russian occupation. Getty Images
    Alyona Kishinskaya helps to clean up a shop as it prepares to reopen in Balakiya, Ukraine, after a six-month Russian occupation. Getty Images
  • Alla, 12, has a swinging time in Balakiya, Ukraine, as life goes on despite the war. Getty Images
    Alla, 12, has a swinging time in Balakiya, Ukraine, as life goes on despite the war. Getty Images
  • Ukrainian flags in the town square in Balakiya. Getty Images
    Ukrainian flags in the town square in Balakiya. Getty Images
  • A destroyed Russian command centre in Izium, Ukraine. Getty Images
    A destroyed Russian command centre in Izium, Ukraine. Getty Images
  • In what may be a final farewell, young Russian recruits - escorted by their wives - walk to a train station in Volgograd before being sent to war in Ukraine. AP
    In what may be a final farewell, young Russian recruits - escorted by their wives - walk to a train station in Volgograd before being sent to war in Ukraine. AP
  • Russian recruits board the train to Ukraine in Volgograd. AP
    Russian recruits board the train to Ukraine in Volgograd. AP
  • Ukrainian soliders drive a tank at the recently retaken eastern side of the Oskil River in Kharkiv region, Ukraine. AFP
    Ukrainian soliders drive a tank at the recently retaken eastern side of the Oskil River in Kharkiv region, Ukraine. AFP
  • Volunteers pass boxes of food aid on a destroyed bridge over the Oskil River. AFP
    Volunteers pass boxes of food aid on a destroyed bridge over the Oskil River. AFP
  • Ukrainian soliders rest on an armoured personnel carrier. AFP
    Ukrainian soliders rest on an armoured personnel carrier. AFP
  • A sign warns of landmines in Izyum, eastern Ukraine. AFP
    A sign warns of landmines in Izyum, eastern Ukraine. AFP
  • This crater was left after a missile strike in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. AFP
    This crater was left after a missile strike in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. AFP
Updated: October 18, 2022, 8:08 PM