Kyiv, 24 March 2024 (TDI): A million people are left without power after a Russian strike on Ukraine, on Friday. The Russian strike resulted in the killing of 5 Ukrainians and leaving a million without power.
A million people are without power in the second-largest city of Kharkiv, the regional head says, and more than 53,000 households in Odesa are without power. Some 90 missiles and 60 Shahed drones were launched into Ukraine during the wave of overnight attacks.
Eight of the Russian missiles hit Dnipro Hydroelectric Station, Ukraine’s largest hydroelectric power plant, causing “significant damage” to the facility, the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general said.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk, warned Russia was building a group of more than 100,000 soldiers ahead of a possible major summer offensive.
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Strikes were also reported in President Zelensky’s hometowns of Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia, both in central Ukraine. They damaged a “critical infrastructure object”, said Ukrainian officials.
“This is a war against people’s everyday lives,” declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He condemned the attacks and renewed his urgent plea to Western allies for additional air defense systems to help protect Ukrainian airspace.
The energy minister, German Galushchenko, described the barrage as “the largest attack on the Ukrainian energy industry in recent times.” The strikes caused power outages in major cities like Kharkiv, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Poltava, leaving a million people without power.
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“These attacks are yet another blatant disregard for civilian life by the Russian government,” stated a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
“We call upon the international community to hold Russia accountable for its war crimes and to provide Ukraine with the military assistance we need to defend ourselves, he added”
The European Commission said it would impose “prohibitive tariffs” on cheap imports of grain from Russia and Belarus. The move is also designed to limit Russia’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine and sell grain stolen from Ukraine, the commission said.
