East Ukraine goes dark as Kyiv pushes back against Kremlin

Kyiv’s
counteroffensive against Russia has helped it regain large tracts of territory
in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. But later that day, many areas in this
region lost power and water, Ukraine said. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky
accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in the region.

Water
and power outages affected nearly nine million people in the region, including in
parts controlled by Russia. The blackout was reported on the same day Ukraine
claimed to have regained control of 2,000 square kilometres of territory,
making it the biggest pushback against Russian aggression since Zelensky’s
troops successfully pushed back Putin’s men from capital Kyiv.

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“There
is no electricity or water supply in several settlements. Emergency services
are working to control fires at the sites that were hit,” said Oleg Synegubov,
Kharkiv governor, writing on social media. Similar reports also came in from
Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Odesa, according to an Al
Jazeera report.

Zelensky,
in a statement on social media, said, “A total blackout in the Kharkiv and
Donetsk regions, a partial one in Zaporizhzhia,” and blamed “Russian terrorists.”
“No military facilities. The goal is to deprive people of light and heat,” said
Zelensky.    

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Officials
who spoke to Al Jazeera said there are power outages in five regions “in the
northeast and eastern part of the country.” In some areas, power was restored
following emergency cut announcements, officials said.

Russian
forces have also been disrupting movement of trains. Ukraine’s national train
service announced delays throughout eastern Ukraine, including in Kharkiv, the
country’s second-largest city.

Oleg Nikolenko,
a Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson, said the Russian attacks were “an
act of desperation following Russia’s immense loses and retreat in eastern
Ukraine.”

On Sunday,
Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the nation to mark 200 days of Russian aggression
in Ukraine. Zelensky thanked Ukraine forces who “liberated hundreds of our
cities and villages … and most recently Balaklia, Izyum and Kupiansk.”