RUSSIAN STRIKES PROMPT POWER CUTS ACROSS UKRAINE

RUSSIAN forces have again targeted Ukraine's energy facilities, leaving part of Kyiv and other cities with no power and water.

Prosecutors said two people were killed in an attack on the capital. Plumes of smoke were seen billowing from around a power station near the Dnipro river.

Power and water were cut in Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv, and two facilities were badly damaged in Dnipro.

The latest attacks came 24 hours after Kyiv was hit by "kamikaze" drones.

The unmanned drones, believed to be Iranian-made, killed at least five people in the capital and four in the northern city of Sumy, and struck critical infrastructure, with power outages reported in hundreds of towns and villages.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter on Tuesday that in the past eight days, "30% of Ukraine's power stations have been destroyed, causing massive blackouts across the country".

Russia has stepped up attacks in recent weeks on electricity infrastructure in cities away from the front lines. Officials have rushed to repair the damage, but the strikes, ahead of winter, have raised concerns about how the system will respond.

It was not initially clear to what extent drones were involved on Tuesday, although Ukraine said Russian bombers had fired missiles and one S-300 anti-aircraft missile had hit a residential building in the southern city of Mykolaiv overnight, killing one person.

The city’s flower market was also destroyed.

In some cities, Ukrainians are buying power generators and gas burners, while across the country, people have been urged to reduce their energy consumption at peak times. Some towns are already facing rolling blackouts.