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Dark street in Kharkiv (on Sunday)
Photo:
Leo Correa / dpa
According to Ukrainian reports, Russia has fired on the neighboring country's critical infrastructure.
The eastern Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk are completely without electricity, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.
"Russian terrorists remain terrorists." The enemy troops are not interested in attacking military installations, he wrote.
"The goal is to take light and heat away from people."
Zelenskyy's adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said that one of the country's largest thermal power plants was deliberately hit in Kharkiv.
The attacks on the civilian infrastructure are a "cowardly 'response' to the flight of one's own army from the battlefield".
There were also reports of problems with the electricity and water supply from the Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Zaporizhia and Odessa regions.
The reports could not be independently verified.
In the meantime, there was an air alert throughout Ukraine.
Some residents reported explosion noises on social networks.
In Kharkiv, where Russian units had only recently withdrawn, the mayor of the regional capital of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, wrote on Telegram: "This is a hideous and cynical revenge by the Russian aggressor for the successes of our army."
The Russian army announced on Saturday that it was withdrawing its troops from certain areas in eastern Ukraine.
The Ministry of Defense published a map on Sunday showing an extensive withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kharkiv region.
The move was officially justified with a strategic »regrouping« of the units.
Ukraine had previously reported the recapture of at least 30 towns in the Kharkiv region.
Selenskyj describes the counter-offensive from the Kharkiv area as a possible breakthrough in the months-long war with Russia.
In the winter, the Ukrainian armed forces could gain more ground if Kyiv receives more powerful weapons, says Zelensky.
The Ukrainian army will continue to make progress.
"We will not stand still," he said in an interview with CNN that was recorded on Friday.
aar/dpa