Drone strike cuts power supply in Russia-held parts of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region

MOSCOW, Jan 18: More than 200,000 consumers in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region were left without electricity on Sunday, the Moscow-installed regional governor said, after a Ukrainian drone strike on Saturday.

In a statement posted on Telegram, Yevgeny Balitsky said that work was ongoing to restore the power supply, but that almost 400 settlements remain without electricity.

Temperatures are well below freezing throughout the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, around 75% of which is controlled by Russia.

Russia has frequently bombarded Ukraine’s power infrastructure throughout its nearly four-year war, causing rolling daily blackouts, and has also targeted heating systems this winter.

Separately, in the Caucasus mountains region of North Ossetia, two children and one adult were injured when a Ukrainian drone struck a residential building in the town of Beslan, the regional governor said.