Russian missiles hit Ukrainian cities, cut power to nuclear plant

Russian missiles knocked out the power supply to Europe's largest nuclear plant during a barrage of strikes targeting cities across Ukraine on Thursday, while Ukrainian defenders repelled fierce assaults on the beleaguered town of Bakhmut.

 

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russian forces captured a year ago, was left depending on back-up generators after Russian missiles damaged Ukrainian infrastructure that had been delivering electricity to the plant, Ukrainian state power company Energoatom said in a statement.

"The last link between the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and the Ukrainian power system was cut off," Energoatom said in a statement.

The fifth and sixth reactors have been shut down and electric power needed for the plant's functioning is supplied by 18 diesel generators, which have enough fuel for 10 days, Energoatom added.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an aide to the Ukrainian president, said the Russian military had launched massive missile attacks at night, when people were sleeping.

"Explosions have been recorded in most regions – infrastructure facilities & residential areas have been hit. ZNPP is de-energized," Podolyak said in a post on Twitter, adding that parts of Ukraine were without electricity and water.

The capital, Kyiv, the Black Sea port of Odesa and the second-largest city, Kharkiv, were all hit as missiles targeted a wide arc of targets, stretching from Zhytomyr, Vynnytsia and Rivne in the west to Dnipro and Poltava in central Ukraine, officials said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Air raid sirens sounded over Kyiv for seven hours, and Ukrainian air defenses shot down drones and all types of cruise missiles, though preliminary reports said a hypersonic missile struck its target.

"Unfortunately, a missile of the Kinzhal type hit an infrastructure object," said Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv region's military administration.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in the southwestern part of the capital. Posting on the Telegram messaging app, the mayor said 40% of consumers in Kyiv were without electricity.