Ukrainian strikes cut power to Russian-held areas

UKRAINIAN attacks triggered power cuts over swathes of Russian-controlled territory in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in Ukraine’s south, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity, Russia-installed officials said on Tuesday.

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Officials said there was no effect on operations at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station —Europe’s largest nuclear facility which was seized by Russia in the weeks after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russian officials running the plant said radiation levels were normal at the facility, which operates in shutdown mode and produces no power at the moment.

Russia-installed governors in the two regions, which are among the key areas that Moscow demands that Ukraine give up in order for the war to end, said the Ukrainian attacks prompted authorities to introduce emergency measures to preserve power sources.

As of Tuesday morning, more than 600,000 people in nearly 500 settlements in Zaporizhzhia were without electricity, after shelling by Ukraine’s forces damaged high-voltage infrastructure, Russia-installed Governor Yevgeny Belitsky wrote on Telegram.

“As a result of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, high-voltage equipment was damaged in the northwestern part of the Zaporizhzhia region,” Mr. Belitsky wrote.

The attacks came hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Turkey for peace talks where Moscow said it would only agree to end the war if Kyiv gives up big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army.