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Ukrainians were preparing for rolling blackouts starting Thursday as Russia continues attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure, utility officials said.
Amid Russian missile strikes on power stations, Ukraine has launched a power-saving campaign, asking residents to reduce power usage Thursday, the country’s energy company, NPC Ukrenergo, announced Wednesday as it called for “understanding and support.”
“This is a forced move,” the utility company said as it decried Russian attacks on civilian energy infrastructure.
The company also urged residents to make sure their phones and power banks are charged and to keep flashlights, warm socks and blankets on hand. Meanwhile, Ukrainians have prepared for attacks on power infrastructure – a common tactic by Russian forces – by stocking up on flashlights, candles and canned goods, bottling water and collecting warm clothes and blankets ahead of winter.
“We will do everything possible to restore the normal energy capabilities of our country,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday. “But it takes time. And this requires our joint efforts.”
Oleksandr Kharchenko, a Ukrainian energy official, said Wednesday that about 40% of the country’s power system has been severely damaged. Zelenskyy said Russian forces have destroyed 30% of Ukraine’s power stations since Oct. 10.
Russian shellings have knocked out power and water in Enerhodar, the southern city by the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Missiles have also severely damaged an energy facility near Kryvyi Rih in south-central Ukraine.
GRAPHICS:Mapping and tracking Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Other developments:
►Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declaration this week of martial law in four regions of Ukraine – a move denounced internationally – “speaks to his desperation” as Ukrainian forces make continued progress, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” released Wednesday. The four regions in the declaration are Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
►The U.S. Department of Justice has charged nearly a dozen people, including five Russian nationals, in New York and Connecticut related to separate schemes to illegally supply U.S. military technology to Russia. Some of the equipment was recovered from battlefields in Ukraine while others were intercepted in Latvia, the department said.
UKRAINE PROGRESS:Ukraine regains more territory in east and south as counteroffensives continue
EU agrees on sanctions against Iran for supplying drones to Russia
Members of the European Union have agreed on new sanctions against Iran after the country was accused of supplying drones to Russia in its invasion in Ukraine, the Czech presidency of the EU announced Thursday.
“After 3 days of talks, EU ambassadors agreed on measures against entities supplying Iranian drones that hit Ukraine,” the presidency said on Twitter, adding that the sanctions will be enacted Thursday afternoon.
In a Wednesday interview with Canada’s CTV, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Iran of taking “blood money” from Russia to supply Russian forces with drones used in deadly attacks.
“They publicly denied all that, saying that we didn’t sell anything, but here we see,” he said. “Hundreds of strikes. At Ukraine, at the capital, at civil infrastructure, at schools, nearby the university, at the university and the shutting down of our energy system.”
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a Wednesday statement that the U.S. has “abundant evidence” that Iran was supplying Russia with drones in violation of a UN resolution. Price accused Iran of lying and denying providing the weapons to Russia.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
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