Kiev, 25 March 2024 (dpa/MIA) – Russian aerial drones struck the Ukrainian electricity grid in the Odessa and Mykolaiv regions in the south of the country in the early hours of Monday, the Ukrainian military reported.

Power cuts occurred in parts of Odessa and its hinterland. The city authorities said they were forced to halt tram and trolleybus services. No injuries were reported.

A substation in the Mykolaiv region caught fire after taking a hit, the state-owned Ukrenergo energy supply company reported.

The military authorities reported that debris from a drone hit a two-storey residential building in the region, setting it alight and injuring 11 people, two of them seriously.

Russian forces have increasingly targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure over recent days. Kharkiv in the north-east has been badly hit. Repairing the grid would take around a week, Ukrenergo head Volodymyr Kudrytskyi told national television.

On the Russian side, a fire broke out in the power station supplying electricity and district heating in Novocherkassk in the south-west of the country early on Monday. The plant is the largest of its kind in the Rostov region.

The regional authorities reported that the fire at the plant had been doused and its cause was being investigated. Two blocks and two transmission lines were shut down, they said. Unofficial reports attributed the damage to a Ukrainian drone attack.

Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian power infrastructure during winter since it invaded the country in February 2022.