Latest Russian strikes on northern Ukraine leave more than 100K without power

A set of Russian strikes in northern Ukraine knocked out power for more than 100,000 people and cut off the water supply to a regional capital.

Attacks overnight in Ukraine’s eastern regions also killed 11 people, The Associated Press reported.

According to Ukraine’s General Staff, Russian forces launched six rocket strikes and 55 airstrikes across Ukraine. Russia also used 70 glide bombs, or retrofitted Soviet-era weapons, which the country has increasingly used in recent weeks, per the AP.

“Our people continuously suffer from Russian terror. This week alone, Russia has used over 600 guided aerial bombs, more than 60 “Shahed” drones, and nearly 40 missiles of various types,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted Saturday on social media platform X, adding that the nation’s military had used international aid from the U.S. and Germany to strengthen its air defenses.

“However, to protect all our cities and villages and to truly overcome Russian terror, we need more concrete decisions,” he continued. “Next week, we will work with our partners for such decisions — preparations are already underway.”

Russia struck the northern Sumy region overnight, according to the Ukranian Energy Ministry. Hours later, the Ukrainian public broadcaster reported that Russian drones had hit the provincial capital, also called Sumy. The strike hit power lines that feed the city’s system of pumps. 

​​According to the Russian state agency RIA, a local pro-Kremlin “underground” leader said that Russia had hit a plant producing rocket ammunition in Sumy as well. Still, that claim has not been independently verified, according to the AP.

In Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, heavy shelling also continued overnight, and the Ukrainian General Staff said that Ukraine and Russian forces clashed 45 times near Pokrovsk over the previous day. 

The region’s governor also reported that three more people died in Chasiv Yar, a strategically located town in Donetsk, whose fall, military analysts say, could put nearby cities in jeopardy. Russia has claimed the Donetsk region is Russian territory, which has been rejected by Ukraine and the overwhelming majority of the international community. 

In recent months, Russia has increasingly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure to cripple the nation as it continues to fight against Russia’s invasion. 

Russia has launched at least seven major attacks on Ukrainian power plants in the last three months, per the AP. In early June, Ukraine imposed emergency power cuts across the country in response to Russian attacks. 

In April, a Russian missile barrage damaged Kyiv’s largest thermal power plant, and a massive attack on May 8 targeted power generation across the country. 

In the past, Zelensky took to X to denounce the attacks on civilian infrastructure.

“Civilian people, infrastructure, and energy facilities. This is what Russia is constantly at war with,” Zelensky wrote last month on X. “This night, another barrage of over 50 missiles of various types and around 50 ‘Shahed’ drones targeted the south, center, and west of Ukraine.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting.