The southern Ukrainian city of Odessa is without power almost entirely after a Russian-launched “kamikaze drone” attack overnight, Ukrainian authorities announced on Saturday.
“Right now the city is without electricity,” an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said in a message on his Telegram account.
However, he said that essential infrastructure, including hospitals and maternity wards, had access to power. “The situation is still difficult, but it is under control,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko said.
Major power outages
According to Maksym Marchenko, governor of the Odessa region, Russia attacked the city with “kamikaze drones” overnight from Friday to Saturday.
“Due to the strikes, there is no electricity in almost all the districts and communities in our region,” he said.
Two drones were shot down by Ukrainian air defense units, Maksym Marchenko added.
On Friday, Kiev noted that the southern regions of the war-torn country, including Odessa, were suffering the worst power outages, days after the latest round of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid.
Weakened infrastructure after missile launch
Russia fired dozens of cruise missiles at key infrastructure on Monday, straining the country’s network already in trouble after repeated strikes.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to continue attacking Ukraine’s power grid despite harsh Western criticism of systematic attacks that have left millions of people cold and in the dark.
The Black Sea port of Odessa was a favorite vacation destination for many Ukrainians and Russians before the outbreak of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24.
Source: BFM TV
