Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv was for hours left without power after the latest wave of Russian strikes targeted energy stations across the country. Local officials said as many as nine power facilities were hit as Russian forces fired 76 missiles and carried out drone attacks on Friday.
Kharkiv’s mayor said the city suffered “colossal” damage. By the evening, 55% of residents had electricity back.
One resident, Anastaisa, told the BBC the strikes began on Friday morning. “In a matter of minutes, the lights started blinking,” the mother of a two-month-old child said. “Just 10 seconds later, we were out of power, everything just went still and that’s it.
“At the moment, there is also no water because the pumping stations cannot work when there’s no power in the city, so technically, what we have now is a city without power and water supply.”