Russian drone strikes leave Odesa in dark
>> Russia launched an aerial assault before dawn Saturday on already battered energy infrastructure across southern Ukraine, directing more than a dozen attack drones at targets in the port cities of Odesa, Kherson and Mykolaiv.
Though the Ukrainian military said it shot down 10 of 15 of the Iranianmade drones, the Odesa City Council said that critical infrastructure there suffered “significant damage.” DTEK, a prominent Ukrainian power company, said the strikes damaged “several” facilities in Odesa, knocking out power to everyone except for critical infrastructure sites.
Odesa has been particularly hard hit by Russia's unrelenting assault on the country's energy grid. After strikes Monday, the city of more than 1 million people was left almost entirely without power, heat and running water.
Though most essential services had been restored, utility workers still were racing to deliver electricity to homes and businesses before the new strikes hit before dawn Saturday.
It was not clear what was damaged in the strikes Saturday. Serhii Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the military administration in Odesa, said that rescue operations were continuing and that details would be made available later in the day.
The strikes also left 2,500 customers in the recently reclaimed city of Kherson without power, according to Yaroslav Yanushevych, the head of the regional military administration.
The attacks used advanced Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles — the Shahed-131 and the Shahed-136, the Ukrainian air force said in a statement.
Britain's defense intelligence agency warned Saturday morning that Iran's support to the Russian military was likely to grow in the coming months.
“Russia is attempting to obtain more weapons, including hundreds of ballistic missiles,” the agency said in a daily update. “In return Russia is highly likely offering Iran an unprecedented level of military and technical support that is transforming their defense relationship.”