Russian Strikes Hit Southern Ukraine as Country Scrambles to Restore Electricity

Russian strikes hit cities across southern Ukraine over the weekend, as intense fighting continued in the country’s eastern Donetsk region.

Thirteen people were injured in strikes on residential areas of Dnipro on Saturday, according to Ukrainian emergency services. A video posted by emergency services online showed firefighters putting out flames and helping extract people from the rubble of several apartment buildings. Rockets also hit the suburbs of Zaporizhzhia overnight, according to the region’s governor; there were no casualties.

On Sunday morning, two Russian missiles struck transportation infrastructure in Kryvyi Rih, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, the city’s top official.

“The destruction is significant,” Mr. Vilkul said on Telegram on Sunday, adding that the extent of the damage wasn’t yet clear.

Russian attacks on infrastructure have upended life in Ukraine over the past six weeks. As of Saturday, six million people across Ukraine were without power as a result of the strikes. The U.S., Ukraine and others have accused Russia of trying to freeze Ukrainians into submission by leaving them without power as winter approaches and temperatures drop.

In his nightly address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that engineers were working to restore the power supply and that the number of homes disconnected from the grid had been cut in half. He said the power supply remained restricted in 14 regions, as well as in Kyiv, the capital.

“We now have more ability to generate and supply electricity. But, unfortunately, not enough to make the supply completely stable,” Mr. Zelensky said. He urged Ukrainians to continue to conserve electricity, even when their power was restored: “If consumption increases in the evening, the number of outages may increase.”

Mr. Zelensky also mentioned the Holodomor famine that, largely as the result of Soviet policies, killed three million people in 1932 and 1933. He said Moscow was using similar tactics today to deprive Ukraine of food, while trying to erase Ukraine as a nation and a people.

“Ukrainians went through genocide. And today we are doing everything possible and impossible to stop Russia’s new genocidal policy,” he said. He also touted the efforts Ukraine was making to continue exporting food during the war: “We affirm that never again should hunger be used as a weapon.”

Russia’s government didn’t have any immediate comment on the allegations. It has in the past denied it is conducting a genocide, but has said it is targeting Ukrainian infrastructure.

Fighting has continued in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces have been pushing for months to take the city of Bakhmut.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the region, said on Telegram that five civilians were killed by Russian shelling on Saturday, one in Bakhmut, another in nearby Chasiv Yar, and three more in the town of Rydkodub.

The British Defense Ministry said that intense fighting was taking place around the towns of Pavlivka and Vuhledar, southwest of Bakhmut, though little territory had changed hands over the last two weeks.

“Both Russia and Ukraine have significant forces committed to this sector, with Russian Naval Infantry having suffered heavy casualties,” the ministry said on Twitter. The ministry added that Russian forces were likely focused on the area because they saw it as a potential launch point for a push to take more territory to the north, as they continue their effort to capture all of the Donetsk region: “However, Russia is unlikely to be able to concentrate sufficient quality forces to achieve an operational breakthrough.”

Despite the fighting, the two sides have continued to swap prisoners. Mr. Zelensky said that 98 Ukrainians were returned this week from Russian captivity, after the release of nine more troops and three civilians on Saturday.