Blackouts, power cuts in Ukraine after missile strikes
STORY: Russian missiles rained down on Ukraine Wednesday, knocking out electricity in the Kyiv region and elsewhere across the country.
At least six people were killed during attacks that targeted energy facilities, cutting power in many regions and forcing emergency blackouts elsewhere as Moscow pushed a campaign to plunge Ukrainian cities into darkness and cold with winter setting in.
Emergency crews rushed patients into a Kyiv hospital Wednesday after the strikes, though power to the hospital was also cut, forcing staff to use generators and stored water.
CHIEF DOCTOR AT KYIV REGIONAL HOSPITAL, YEVHEN LAPSHYN: “At the moment, there is no water in the hospital. But we have stored water. We made preparations beforehand.”
The entire capital region - with over three million people - was deprived of power and running water, according to the governor.
The lack of power forced the shutdown of nuclear reactors in Ukraine's south and west, all in government-held territory, the state-run nuclear energy firm Energoatom said.
Ukraine's largest nuclear complex, at Zaporizhzhia near the front lines in the south, is Russian-controlled and was previously switched off because of shelling that both sides blame on each other.
A maternity hospital in the region was destroyed by shelling Wednesday. Officials said a doctor and patient were pulled from the debris, but a two-day old baby was killed.
The child's grandmother looked on as rescue workers sifted through the rubble.
TETIANA SVISTUNOVA: “She said a missile hit the maternity hospital and she could not find her child. She was pulled out from under the rubble by the emergency workers. Her child was dead.”
Ukraine's top military commander said air defenses shot down 51 of 67 Russian cruise missiles launched on Wednesday, including 20 of the 30 that targeted Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attacks targeted infrastructure, energy, and regular civilians.
"The result is tragic. There is a big number of wounded, there are killed ones. Please accept my condolences, all who lost relatives and close ones. Concerning electricity and water supply – everyone is working. Electricians are working, rescue servicemen are working, everyone is working. Local authorities – the task is set. We will rebuild everything. We will get through it all. Because we are an unbreakable people."
Since October, Russia has openly acknowledged targeting Ukraine’s civil power and heating systems with long-range missiles and drones. Moscow says the aim is to reduce Kyiv’s ability to fight and push it to negotiate; Ukraine says the strikes on infrastructure are war crimes.
Russia denies its troops deliberately attack civilians or have committed atrocities.
