According to Ukrainian sources, after the partial withdrawal of its own troops, Russia fired on the neighboring country’s critical infrastructure. The eastern Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk are completely without electricity, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter on Sunday. “Russian terrorists remain terrorists,” he wrote. His adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said that one of the largest thermal power plants in the country was hit in Kharkiv. There were also reports of problems with the electricity and water supply from the Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Zaporizhia and Odessa regions.
In the meantime, there was an air alert throughout Ukraine. Some residents reported explosion noises on social networks. In Kharkiv, where Russian units had just withdrawn, the mayor of the regional capital of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, wrote on Telegram: “This is a hideous and cynical revenge by the Russian aggressor for the achievements of our army.”
Under pressure from Ukrainian counter-offensives, Russia’s defense ministry announced on Saturday, more than six months after the start of the war, that it was withdrawing its own troops from the Kharkiv region. OThe withdrawal was officially justified with a strategic “regrouping” of the units.
