The city of Kherson, the only regional Ukrainian capital under Russian control since its invasion of the country, lost total electrical power Monday along with some surrounding settlements as fears grow of a fierce fight ahead for the region.
The Moscow-controlled administration in occupied Kherson blamed "terrorists" for damaging three power lines on the Berislav-Kakhovka Highway in a Russia-captured part of the region for the blackout.
Kherson Regional Council Deputy Head Yuriy Sobolevskyi said about 10 settlements in the region were affected as well. Regional Head Yaroslav Yanushevych blamed Russia for the outage, calling the power line damage "quite extensive."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said about 4.5 million Ukrainians are dealing with power outages caused by Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure.
