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Russian attacks knock out power for thousands in Ukraine's north

A firefighter on a latter sprays water from a hose onto a fire in a building which shows extensive damage
Firefighters work at a building badly damaged in a drone strike on Zaporizhzhia on 24 March

Russian attacks damaged two energy facilities in Ukraine's northern Chernihiv region, ⁠leaving close to 212,000 consumers without power, a regional electricity distribution company said.

Chernihivoblenergo said nearly 150,000 consumers in the city of Chernihiv and the surrounding district were without power after a Russian attack damaged an energy facility in the Chernihiv district.

It later added that close to another 62,000 consumers were left ‌without power ⁠in three other districts in the region after an attack on an energy facility in the Nizhynskyi district.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 147 drones at the country overnight, of which 121 were downed ‌or neutralised.

Russia has been targeting Ukrainian energy facilities throughout the war, causing regular, hours-long ⁠blackouts across the country. Ukraine has also targeted Russia's ‌energy system, particularly oil refineries, depots and transport terminals.

Chernihiv was ⁠badly hit ‌by power outages over the winter as Russia carried out its biggest bombing campaign of the four-year war against Ukraine's electricity grid.

An earlier ⁠attack left much of the region without power on Saturday.

Light from a torch is seen as people and a dog stand in the darkness
Ukraine's energy infrastructure is frequently targeted by Russia

Close to ⁠21,000 residents of the town of Slavutych, which lies in the neighbouring Kyiv region, were also temporarily without power after a morning attack, the regional governor said on Telegram.

Critical infrastructure has been switched to backup power supplies, the governor ‌added.

Separately, a Russian attack on ⁠Ukraine's southern region of Odesa killed one person and wounded another, emergency ‌services.

The attack damaged a private house, sparking a fire, and caused ‌damage to six buildings ⁠nearby, emergency ‌services said on the Telegram messaging ⁠app, ‌posting photos of firefighters putting out flames in ⁠a partially destroyed ⁠building.

Meanwhile, almost half a million people were left without ⁠electricity in Russia's Belgorod region after Ukrainian strikes hit energy infrastructure, the region's head said.

Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said power outages affected around 450,000 people across several ‌districts, including ⁠the regional capital of Belgorod, with many residents also facing disruption to heating and water supply.

Night-time temperatures in Belgorod over the ‌coming days are expected to hover around zero ⁠degrees Celsius.

Mr Gladkov said that ‌repair works have already started, but said that ⁠it ‌will take several days to complete.

Belgorod, which lies about 40km ⁠from the border with Ukraine, has been ⁠a frequent target of Ukrainian drone and missile strikes.