Ukraine has imposed emergency power outages in all but two regions following a series of Russian attacks that have crippled the country's energy system, officials said Wednesday.

Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities ahead of winter, seriously damaging gas production and plunging major cities, including the capital, Kyiv, into darkness.

In a statement, the Ukrainian Energy Ministry said the impact of the recent attacks had forced it to implement the power outages. Planned power outages have been implemented in the eastern Donetsk and northern Chernihiv regions.

Earlier on Wednesday, leading private energy provider DTEK said it had restored power supply to 1.9 million residents, mostly in Kyiv and the southern Odessa and southeastern Dnipropetrovsk regions, over the past week.

Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, have urged Kyiv's allies to increase supplies of critical air defense equipment and strengthen energy assistance.

Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal, speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, said Ukraine was preparing for a "very harsh and very difficult winter" and urged partners to help Ukraine produce more interceptor drones. "We understand that Putin will continue his terror." (alg)

Source: Reuters