KYIV — Russia on Monday stepped up attacks across Ukraine, cutting electricity in “hundreds” of towns and killing eight people, including four in kamikaze drone strikes in the capital Kyiv.
Moscow is thought to be trying to counter battlefield losses by waging a punitive policy of damaging energy facilities before winter in a move that President Vladimir Putin hopes will weaken Ukrainian resistance in the eight-month war.
Ukraine said four were killed in Kyiv, including a married couple expecting a baby, and another four in the northeast region of Sumy, with its foreign minister demanding EU sanctions on Iran, accusing Tehran of providing Russia with drones.
“I saw a bright orange splash… The house trembled,” said resident Tamara Beroshvili.
“We were scared,” agreed Yevgeniya Sakharuk. “It was very close to our apartment, and we heard a lot of anti-aircraft work and it sounded like automatic fire.”
The Russian army said it hit “all” its targets, having aimed “high-precision and long-range… weapons at military command and control facilities and the energy systems of Ukraine”.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said Russia launched five strikes in Kyiv and against energy facilities in Sumy and the central Dnipropetrovsk regions, knocking out electricity to hundreds of towns and villages.
“A husband and wife who were expecting a child. The woman was six months pregnant,” said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko on social media, identifying two of the dead.
Emergency services later said power was restored in Sumy.
