6 million households across Ukraine without electricity

Kiev: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that about 6 million households across the war-torn nation are without electricity as a result of Russian strikes hitting critical power infrastructure.

He made the remarks in his nightly address to the nation on Wednesday evening.

“Energy workers and utility workers, all our services are doing everything to stabilise the system and give people more energy for longer… It is very important that people understand when and for what period of time they will be left without electricity,” the President said.

Besides Kiev, some of the other affected regions are Vinnytsia, Lviv, Odesa, Khmelnytskyi and Cherkasy.

“People have a right to know. And to the extent that it is possible now, the predictability of life should be ensured. People see that in neighbouring houses or on nearby streets, for some reason, the rules regarding light are different. And there should be justice and clarity,” Zelensky added.

The President also announced that he held a meeting on energy and communications issues earlier on Wednesday.

“We record the results of what has already been done to protect our systems. We are preparing new solutions. We are also preparing new solutions to prevent any opportunity for Russia to manipulate the internal life of Ukraine. We will provide details in due time,” he added.

The latest large-scale Russian missile attack on November 23 resulted in temporary power outages at all nuclear power plants and most thermal and hydroelectric power plants, while power transmission facilities were also damaged.

Due to the widespread power outage, water and heat supply to households was also interrupted.

The continued Russian attacks have damaged almost half of Ukraine’s energy system and millions of people are without power as temperatures drop for winter.