![\"Russian](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2022-04\/ofrrlk7k_ukraines-luhansk_625x300_09_April_22.jpg\"\/ "\\"Russian")
<\/div>\nGovernor of the eastern Kharkiv region said the main city was without power. (Representational)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Kyiv: <\/b><\/p>\n
A fresh barrage of fatal Russian strikes hit cities across Ukraine early Friday, cutting water and electricity in major urban hubs and piling pressure on the grid in sub-zero temperatures.<\/p>\n
AFP journalists in Kyiv reported several loud explosions and the mayor said the metro had stopped running to allow residents to take shelter in underground stations.<\/p>\n
The strikes killed two people and injured several others — including children — in the southern city of Kryvyi Rig, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown.<\/p>\n
“Another wave of massive Russian attacks on energy infrastructure,” Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on social media, adding that: “There will be emergency power outages.”<\/p>\n
The onslaught is just the latest of several waves of strikes that began in October after a series of embarrassing battlefield defeats for Russia in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv, near the border with Russia, was without electricity, its\u00a0 mayor said.<\/p>\n
The central cities of Poltava and Kremenchuk also had no power.<\/p>\n
Air raid sirens were sounding across the entire country while the extent of the damage was being assessed.<\/p>\n
Regional officials in Kryvyi Rig said rockets had hit a residential building.<\/p>\n
“Two people have died,” governor Valentyn Reznichenko said, adding that “at least five people were injured, including two children. All are in hospital.”<\/p>\n
Oleksandr Starukh, the head of the frontline Zaporizhzhia region, which houses Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, said the territory under Ukrainian control has been targeted with more than a dozen Russian missiles.<\/p>\n
Water cuts in Kyiv<\/strong><\/p>\n There were explosions in several central districts of Kyiv, and water supplies were disrupted, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.<\/p>\n He said metro services had been suspended so that stations could be used as bomb shelters.<\/p>\n “Due to damage to energy infrastructure, there are interruptions to water supplies in all areas of the capital,” Klitschko said on social media.<\/p>\n “Metro traffic is temporarily stopped on all lines.”<\/p>\n Earlier, Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson recently recaptured by Ukraine cut power.<\/p>\n Kherson has been subjected to persistent Russian shelling since Moscow’s forces retreated in November.<\/p>\n The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that a Ukrainian Red Cross volunteer had been killed by the strikes in Kherson and urged that humanitarian “personnel and property” be spared.<\/p>\n Moscow has said the strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure are a response to an explosion on the Kerch bridge connecting the Russian mainland to the Crimean peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.<\/p>\n The Kremlin has also said Kyiv was ultimately responsible for the humanitarian impact of the strikes for refusing to capitulate to Russian negotation terms.<\/p>\n The wave of attacks has spurred urgent pleas from Kyiv for greater air defence capabilities from Western allies.<\/p>\n And Ukrainian defence officials have credited newly supplied systems for downing Russian missiles and drones.<\/p>\n Defence officials said this week Ukraine forces had shot down a swarm of more than a dozen Iranian-made attack drones launched at Kyiv.<\/p>\n Separately on Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he will visit Belarus next week for talks with his counterpart and ally Alexander Lukashenko.<\/p>\n Minsk said the pair will hold one-on-one talks as well as wider negotiations with their ministers on “Belarusian-Russian integration”.<\/p>\n (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n