Russian strikes knock out power for 600,000 in Dnipropetrovsk; Zaporizhzhia plant on diesel backup

Russian attacks on Ukraine's power grid Saturday night left more than 600,000 people without electricity in the Dnipropetrovsk region of southeast Ukraine, electricity provider DTEK announced on social media.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday morning condemned "an overnight attack on the Dnipro region" and reported energy infrastructure damage across the country. "There are widespread power outages across the country… Repair work is underway in virtually every affected city and community," he said.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said hospitals and critical infrastructure had switched to generators, and that repair crews were being hampered by continued Russian shelling.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant also lost external power overnight. The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Sunday morning the plant was relying "on emergency diesel generators for reactor cooling and other essential nuclear safety and security functions."

The attack follows shelling of the same region on November 3 that damaged infrastructure, and a wider assault the same day targeting energy facilities across Ukraine.

Zelenskyy called on international partners to tighten sanctions on Russia to restrict its capacity to acquire or manufacture more missiles. "It is very important that they be synchronized across Europe and G7 jurisdictions. If the world does not have enough anti-ballistic capabilities to protect Ukrainian skies, then the missiles must be stopped on the production lines," he said.

The strikes come as Kyiv and Moscow prepare for another round of US-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi next week.