Denys Shmyhal attends a joint briefing in Kyiv on December 6. (Hennadii Minchenko/Ukrinform/Future Publishing/Getty Images)
Ukraine said it has reduced its “power deficit” as engineers work to restore infrastructure damaged by waves of Russian missile strikes.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that after Monday’s attacks, “power engineers promise to eliminate the consequences” in the coming days.
“At the same time, the power deficit in the energy system will remain. Currently, it is 19% of the forecast consumption,” he said. It has been higher than 30% in recent weeks.
Even so, Shmyhal said, “35% of key facilities of the main power grids have been damaged by massive attacks by the Russians in recent months.”
“The enemy fired seven missiles at once at one of the substations in the Odesa region. Therefore, power outages schedules are still in effect in the country,” he added.
Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said that water supply and sewage treatment had been restored by Tuesday evening.
Eleven district and quarter boiler houses — used for heating — were operating, serving about 88% of consumers. “This means that more than 600,000 Odesa residents have heat,” Trukhanov said.
More strikes in the south: Russian missile and artillery attacks have continued elsewhere in southern Ukraine.
Yaroslav Yanushevych, the head of the Kherson regional military administration, said Tuesday that “Russian occupiers shelled Kherson city again, hitting an “infrastructure facility and residential buildings.”
One person had been killed and a large fire was extinguished, he said.
Further north, Russians attacked the city of Kryvyi Rih.
Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said an industrial enterprise had been hit.
Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih district, said the strike appeared to have been by a ballistic missile, calling them “very significant destructions.”
Vilkul said that after Monday’s missile attacks, the gradual restoration of electricity had begun. But hourly and scheduled outages would continue “to keep the power system of Ukraine intact.”
