Following reports of assaults on energy infrastructure that caused power outages across the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Saturday (October 22) that Russia had launched a “massive attack” on Ukraine overnight.
Zelensky said on social media: “The aggressor continues to terrorise our country. At night, the enemy launched a massive attack: 36 rockets, most of which were shot down… These are vile strikes on critical objects. Typical tactics of terrorists.”
Russian attacks on energy infrastructure across Ukraine have left more than a million homes without electricity, according to the deputy director of the Ukrainian presidency.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on social media: “As of now, 672,000 subscribers have been disconnected in Khmelnytskyi region, 188,400 in Mykolaiv region, 102,000 in Volyn region, 242,000 in Cherkasy region, 174,790 in Rivne region, 61,913 in Kirovograd region and 10,500 in Odessa region.”
Meanwhile, in response to Kyiv’s counter-offensive, pro-Russian officials in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, which Moscow claims to have annexed, ordered residents to leave “immediately” on Saturday.
The region’s pro-Russian authorities said on social media: “Due to the tense situation on the front, the increased danger of mass shelling of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave the city and cross to the left bank of the Dnieper river.
