Russian attacks cause blackouts in Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine

Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk and southeastern Zaporizhzhia regions were left almost completely without power following Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry reported on Thursday.

Dnipro, the capital of the Dnipropetrovsk region, was hit particularly hard, according to Mayor Borys Filatov, suffering a total blackout. The city’s metro has suspended operations, and buses were deployed around the city to replace electric public transport. Train services also experienced delays, according to Ukrainian Railways.

According to Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne, the city has also encountered problems with its water supply, with people queuing for drinking water in supermarkets.

Authorities in the Dnipropetrovsk region could not say late on Wednesday when power supplies would be back up and running, with Mykola Lukashuk, the head of the regional parliament, advising local residents to stock up on water and warning them about potential disruptions to mobile communications.

On Thursday morning, Lukashuk said engineers continued to work to repair the damage caused by the Russian attacks. Parts of the region remained without electricity, with both regions relying on backup power sources for their electricity supply.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, electricity supply began to be gradually restored several hours after the outage, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov, commenting on what was the first blackout in the region in years.