UPDATE 3-Russian strikes plunge Ukraine's industrial southeast into blackouts

Zelenskiy said Russia was intent on using wintry weather as a weapon rather than allowing U.S.-led diplomacy ⁠to work towards a resolution of nearly four years of conflict. Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukraine's energy system as Ukrainian forces fend off Russian advances on the battlefield and Kyiv faces U.S. pressure to quickly secure a peace deal.

Ukrainian officials raced to restore ‌power on Thursday after Russian drone attacks plunged two southeastern regions into near-total blackout overnight, strikes that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said were aimed at "breaking" his country. Zelenskiy said Russia was intent on using wintry weather as a weapon rather than allowing U.S.-led diplomacy ⁠to work towards a resolution of nearly four years of conflict.

Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukraine's energy system as Ukrainian forces fend off Russian advances on the battlefield and Kyiv faces U.S. pressure to quickly secure a peace deal. ZELENSKIY CONDEMNS RUSSIA'S WAR ON 'LIFE IN UKRAINE'

Nearly 500,000 households in the industrialised region of Dnipropetrovsk, one of Ukraine's largest, were still without power ​on Thursday afternoon, according to private energy provider DTEK. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said more than 1.7 million households in Ukraine faced water supply problems after Russia's overnight ‍attack.

Most services had been restored but around 20,000 households still had no water, and 250,000 no heating, Kuleba added. In Zaporizhzhia region, the Energy Ministry said power has been restored after a blackout forced infrastructure to rely on reserves. Governor Ivan Fedorov said it was the first time in "recent years" that his region had faced a total blackout.

"This is Russia's war specifically against our people, against life in Ukraine - an attempt ⁠to break ‌Ukraine," Zelenskiy wrote on X after a European ⁠tour aimed at rallying support for Kyiv. "Diplomatic discussions cannot be a pretext for slowing down the supply of air defence systems and equipment that helps protect lives."

In the Dnipropetrovsk regional capital of Dnipro, generators hummed outside storefronts ‍downtown, where residents told Reuters they had grown used to the frequent disruptions. "This is not the first blackout, and I suspect that it will not be the last, so we are working - ​we are prepared," said a barista who introduced herself as Iryna.

Speaking in his daily video address, Zelenskiy said Russia was "placing greater emphasis on winter than on ⁠diplomacy, on ballistics against our energy sector rather than on working with America and reaching agreements with President Trump. "This needs to change, and it needs to change through pressure on Russia and support for Ukraine."

RESIDENTS AND INDUSTRY ⁠AFFECTED Zelenskiy said there had been new Russian missile strikes on dwellings in his home town in Dnipropetrovsk region, Kryvyi Rih, and the head of the city's military administration said 10 people had been injured.

The municipal water company in Kryvih Rih said the attacks were affecting deliveries from pumping stations. Key steel maker ArcelorMittal said it had temporarily suspended some ⁠production and Zaporizhstal, another major producer, also reported a suspension.

Water supplies were also disrupted in the strategic city of Pavlohrad, said Mykola Lukashuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council. Interior ⁠Minister Ihor Klymenko said more than 1,500 charging ‌and heating points had been rolled out across the Dnipropetrovsk region.

He added that police were announcing air-raid alerts via megaphone in parts of the region where sirens were not working. Ukraine is bracing for colder weather later this week, which Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko ⁠has said was likely to compound disruptions to power and heating. (Additional reporting by Mykhailo Moskalenko in Dnipro Editing by Philippa ‍Fletcher, Gareth Jones, Ron Popeski and Frances Kerry)

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