Ukraine's Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, said this week that approximately 8,500 power generator sets are imported into the country every day

Photo Credit : AFP,

Ukraine's government has promised to build shelters to provide heat and water in the aftermath of Russian air attacks that have shattered its power structure as temperatures drop and snow falls.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Tuesday that special “invincibility centres” will be set up across the country to provide citizens with electricity, heat, water, internet, mobile phone connections and pharmacies. The centres will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Russian attacks have resulted in prolonged power outages for up to 10 million residents at a time. Ukraine has urged people to conserve energy and the national power grid operator reported massive damage on Tuesday.

“If massive Russian strikes occur again and it is clear that power will not be restored for hours, the 'invincibility centres' will go into action with all key services,”  Zelenskyy said. 

Ukraine's Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, said this week that approximately 8,500 power generator sets are imported into the country every day.

Over the last week, much of Ukraine received its first snowfall of the season.

Authorities have issued a warning that power outages could affect millions of people until the end of March, the latest fallout from Russia's nine-month invasion, which has already killed tens of thousands, uprooted millions, and wreaked havoc on the global economy.

Russia's attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities come after a string of battlefield setbacks, including the withdrawal of its forces from the southern city of Kherson.

Residents in Kherson were tearing down Russian propaganda billboards and replacing them with pro-Ukrainian signs a week after being retaken by Ukrainian forces.

“These posters were printed and handed over to us the moment our soldiers arrived. We hired people to put up the posters, and we cleaned up the mess as soon as possible,” Antonina Dobrozhenska said, who works at the government’s communications department.

Russian missiles struck a maternity hospital in the Zaporizhzhia region early Wednesday, killing a baby, regional governor Oleksandr Starukh said on the Telegram messaging service.

Battles also rage in the east, where Russia is launching an offensive along a front line west of Donetsk, which has been held by its proxies since 2014. Over the last 24 hours, the Donetsk region has seen fierce attacks and constant shelling, according to Zelenskyy.

Russian air defences were activated in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 and two drone attacks were repelled on Tuesday, including one on a power station near Sevastopol, according to the regional governor. Russia's Black Sea fleet is based in Sevastopol.

Russian-installed Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev urged calm and said that no damage had occurred.