


Ukrainian authorities warn that outages will get longer
Meanwhile, the Russian president sought to dispel criticism of a chaotic call- up of 300,000 reservists for service in Ukraine by ordering his defense minister to make sure they’re properly trained and equipped for battle.
In the Kyiv region, as winter looms, the latest damage to utilities would mean outages of four or more hours a day, according to Ukrenergo, the state operator of Ukraine’s high-voltage transmission lines.
But Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba warned “more severe and longer shutdowns will be applied in the coming days.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city’s power grid was operating in “emergency mode” and added that he hoped Ukrenergo would find ways to address the shortage “in two to three weeks.”
Klitschko also said new air defense equipment had been deployed in the Ukrainian capital to help protect energy facilities from drone and missile attacks.
In the Kharkiv region, Gov. Oleh Sinegubov said daily one-hour power outages would begin Monday.
Officials across the country have urged people to conserve electricity.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that 30% of Ukraine’s power stations had been destroyed since Russia launched the first wave of targeted infrastructure strikes on Oct. 10.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that the thousands of reservists who were recently called up need the right training and equipment so “people feel confident when they need to go to combat.”
Shoigu told Putin that 82,000 reservists had been deployed to Ukraine, while 218,000 others were still being trained. He said there were no immediate plans to round up more, but Putin’s mobilization order left the door open for a future military call-up.
Putin’s effort to beef up the number of troops along the 620-mile front line followed recent setbacks, including a Russian withdrawal from the Kharkiv region. The mobilization, however, fueled scores of protests in Russia and prompted hundreds of thousands of men to flee the country.
Activists and reports by Russian media and the Associated Press said many of the draftees were inexperienced, were told to procure basic items such as medical kits and flak jackets themselves, and did not receive training before they were sent to fight. Some were killed within days of being called up.
Shoigu acknowledged that “problems with supplies existed in the initial stages,” but told Putin those have now been solved.
Putin ordered Shoigu to propose ways to reform the ground troops and other parts of the military based on their performance in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russian missile and artillery barrages pounded targets across Ukraine. Several towns across the Dnieper River from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant were struck, the presidential office said. Shelling damaged dozens of residential buildings in Nikopol, and power was cut there and to thousands of families in neighboring towns.
A Russian S-300 air defense missile destroyed an office building, Mykolaiv’s regional governor said. Russian forces have used converted S-300s to strike ground targets in Ukraine.
Moscow also pressed its ground advance on the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiikva in the east.