Early-morning Russian missile and drone attacks on several regions across Ukraine have left thousands of civilians without power and damaged energy infrastructure, officials said Thursday.
More than 200,000 consumers in the Kharkiv region were left without electricity after the latest strikes, Oleksiy Kuleba, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office, said on Telegram.
"This morning, another massive Russian attack on Ukraine's energy sector. The enemy launched dozens of drones and missiles in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions," he said on the social media platform.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the strikes, saying they reinforced the need for Kyiv to have more air defense systems, urgently.
Ukraine's national grid operator Ukrenergo said power substations and generating facilities in five regions were damaged in the attacks, Reuters reported.