40pc of power grid still damaged

Nearly half of Ukraine's electricity grid remains damaged, a private operator said yesterday, a week after the latest Russian strikes on the country's energy infrastructure disrupted power to millions of people.

"Russia has destroyed 40 percent of the Ukrainian energy system with terrorist missile attacks. Dozens of energy workers were killed and wounded," DTEK company said in a statement on social media.

After suffering humiliating military defeats on the ground, Russia began targeting Ukrainian energy facilities in October, causing severe damage and power shortages. Last week, a latest series of massive strikes on these sites left entire regions across Ukraine cold and dark.

"Electrical engineers are doing everything possible and impossible to stabilise the situation regarding energy supply," the company said, saying its technical teams are working "day and night" to quickly repair the infrastructure.

Authorities said Wednesday that nine people had died in fire-related accidents in the country over the past 24 hours, as Ukrainians are forced to find alternate heating sources, reports AFP.

Britain's defence ministry said in a note yesterday that continuing Russian strikes on energy infrastructure result in "indiscriminate, widespread humanitarian suffering across Ukraine".

"However, its effectiveness as a strategy has likely been blunted because Russia has already expended a large proportion of its suitable missiles against tactical targets," it said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's military said yesterday Russia had pulled some troops from towns on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from Kherson city, the first official Ukrainian report of a Russian withdrawal on what is now the main front line in the south.

The statement gave only limited details and made no mention of any Ukrainian forces having crossed the Dnipro. Ukrainian officials also stressed that Russia had intensified shelling across the river, knocking out power again in Kherson where electricity had only begun to be restored nearly three weeks after Russian troops vacated the city and fled across the river, reports Reuters.

Separately, Ukraine tightened security at its diplomatic missions around the world after a mail bomb exploded at its embassy in Madrid, one of several devices sent to targets in Spain, including to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Ambassador Serhii Pohoreltsev told the Ukrainian news site European Pravda that the suspicious package addressed to him had been opened outside the building by the embassy's Ukrainian commandant, who was injured in the blast.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defended missile strikes across Ukraine yesterday, saying Moscow was targeting Ukraine's civilian infrastructure to prevent Kyiv from importing Western weapons. He did not explain how such attacks could achieve that aim.

The European Union called this week for a special tribunal to prosecute Russian officials accused of aggression, the war crime of attacking another state without justification. The Kremlin rejected this yesterday.