Putin is again attacking Ukraine's energy network. A seven-year-old boy has died

The mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, announced that 12 people were injured after the attacks on important energy facilities in the capital, eight of whom were taken to hospitals.

“The left bank of the capital has been deprived of electricity. There are also problems with water supplies,” he wrote on social media.

Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk announced that emergency services are working to restore energy supplies as soon as possible. “Energy companies are taking all necessary actions to minimize the effects of the attack,” she wrote on Telegram.

According to information provided by the energy company DTEK six [z dziesięciu] districts of the capital were partially deprived of electricityand emergency power outages were introduced throughout the Kiev region.

“We are already working to restore power, first to critical infrastructure facilities. As soon as the security situation allows, energy company officials will assess the extent of the damage to restore power to all homes as quickly as possible,” the utility said.

Service crews worked to restore electricity supply to affected areas, and authorities urged residents of Kiev and surrounding districts to use energy sparingly.

In Kiev itself, Russian drones also hit residential buildings, setting fire to a block of flats in the Pechersk district, in the city center. According to the head of the city's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, firefighters managed to control the fire that engulfed apartments on the sixth and seventh floors.

Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov announced that in the southern Zaporozhye region, a seven-year-old boy died in hospital after being injured during a night attack.

“Tragic news. A seven-year-old boy who was injured during a night attack by the Russians died in hospital. Doctors fought for the child's life until the last moment, but the injuries were too serious,” Fedorov wrote on Telegram.

Authorities in Zaporozhye also reported that gas infrastructure was damaged during the attacks. The regional gas supplier has urged residents and businesses to temporarily reduce their natural gas consumption.

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For safety reasons, traffic through the dam of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant in Zaporozhye has been temporarily closed. — These are preventive measures. Traffic will resume as soon as the security situation allows, Fedorov said.

The attack came nearly three years after Moscow began a campaign to destroy Ukraine's power grid – a tactic repeated every winter to plunge the country into darkness and cold.

Yuri Bojechko, director general of the American non-profit organization Hope for Ukraine, called on Western allies to urgently provide Kiev with advanced air defense systems.

— Russia's nighttime missile and drone attacks, which hit more than 10 energy facilities and resulted in the death of a seven-year-old boy from Zaporizhia, are not acts of war. This is a deliberate attack on civilian infrastructure in order to terrorize Ukrainian families as winter approaches

— Bojeczko said in an interview for Kyiv Post.

He called on Western countries to send Ukraine more Patriot systems, NASAMS defense systems and long-range interceptors to protect Ukraine's energy grid.

— Every day we delay means more children like this seven-year-old will die. More families will freeze in the dark, more civilians will suffer because of Russia's deliberate campaign to destroy Ukraine's power grid, he said.

— The international community has the technology to stop these attacks. The question is whether we will be able to do something before more innocent people lose their lives as a result of Putin's winter war strategy, he added.