JAKARTA - Ukrainians have had their first day of a nationwide scheduled power outage since the war began eight months ago, so repairs can be made to power plants that are damaged or destroyed as winter approaches.
People across Ukraine are urged to use less power, as the government imposes restrictions on electricity use between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. on Thursday.
The first restrictions since the February 24 Russian invasion included blackouts in some areas, the impact of a series of Russian attacks that President Volodymyr Zelensky said had attacked a third of the country's power plants.
"Recovering the power grid will take some time, and we're not talking about days or even weeks. To restore the reliability of our energy systems, it takes a few weeks," Volodymyr Kudritskiy, chairman of Ukrenergo's national energy company board, said on state television.
"The estimate depends on the end of the Russian mass shooting," he said.
Meanwhile, the northeastern region of Sumy is experiencing a shortage of bottled clean water, as several grocery stores in the capital Kyiv report spikes in sales, in preparation for possible water shortages.
"There is a lot of anger against the Russian leaders and the Russian people," said Mikhaylo Holovnenko, a Kyiv resident.
"But we are ready for blackouts. We have candles, charging power banks. Ukraine is required to win," he said.
Separately, the Russian Ministry of Defense said it was again targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure, a strategy that has been improved since the appointment of General Sergei Surovikin, dubbed the 'General Airward', this month as commander of Russia's special military operations in Ukraine.
In two video speeches on Thursday, President Zelensky, without providing evidence, accused Russia of preparing to cause major-scale disasters in southern Ukraine.
Ukraine has information that Russian troops have mined dams and Kakhovska hydroelectric units, President Zelensky stressed, adding that 80 settlements, including the strategic city of Kherson, could experience rapid flooding.
President Zelensky said if Russia " seriously considered such a scenario, it would mean the terrorists were very aware that they could not contain not only Kherson, but also the entire south of our country, including Crimea."
Separately, the Ukrainian military continues to strive to advance towards Kherson, the only regional capital that Russian forces have captured. Kherson's control gives Russia a land route to Crimea and the estuary of the Dnipro river, which divides Ukraine.
While on the eastern battleground of Donbas, an industrial area consisting of Donetsk and Lugansk provinces, the situation is still difficult for Ukrainian troops, President Zelensky said in a video address late Thursday.
"We are gradually advancing and encouraging the enemy," he said.
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