Large swaths of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv have lost access to water and electricity after Russian strikes on the city’s infrastructure Monday morning.
“Currently, due to damage to the energy facility near Kyiv, 80% of the capital’s consumers remain without water supply,” announced Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko over Telegram.
“Specialists…are working to restore the operation of water stations as soon as possible,” he said, advising residents to stock up on water from nearby pumps and stores.
He said water supply would be returned to the left bank of Kyiv and part of the right bank of in “three to four hours.”
“Power engineers are also working to restore power to 350,000 homes in Kyiv that were left without electricity,” added Klitschko.
Russia launched a missile attack on Kyiv and other cities at 7 a.m. local time Monday morning, firing more than 50 cruise missiles in total.
“Missiles and drones hit 10 regions, where 18 objects were damaged, most of them energy-related,” wrote Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal about the Russian attacks.
“Their target is not military facilities, but civilian critical infrastructure,” he added.
“The Air Force of Ukraine shot down 44 cruise missiles of the russian invaders,” announced the Ukrainian Air Force following the attack.
Kyiv regional Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba reported that the missiles also injured two people, one who was in “serious condition” at a hospital.
“Another batch of Russian missiles hits Ukraine’s critical infrastructure,” wrote Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
“Instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia fights civilians … Russia does this because it still has the missiles and the will to kill Ukrainians,” Kuleba added.
Russian forces have pounded Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this month as winter looms, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis in the months ahead.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials have urged Ukrainians to minimize their electricity usage to preserve the capacity of embattled energy systems.
Energy facilities have been pummeled across the country, including in the Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytsky, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Rivne, Volyn, Zaporizhia, Cherkasy and Lutsk regions.