Some 45,000 residents of Kherson were left without electricity after a morning Russian attack on one of the city's power facilities, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on April 1 during a joint press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart Kestusis Budrys.
The attack happened after Russia and Ukraine announced a partial ceasefire on strikes against energy facilities following technical consultations with the U.S. in Riyadh the previous week.
"After Riyadh, one of the agreements with the U.S. was about not striking at energy infrastructure," Sybiha said at the press conference.
"At the same time, Russia continues to violate this agreement," the minister said, adding that Ukraine has also recorded attacks against energy facilities in the Kherson, Kharkiv, and Poltava oblasts since March 25.
According to the local military administration, the Central and Korabelnyi districts of Kherson are without electricity. Electric transport is partially out of service due to the outages.
Throughout the full-scale war, Russia has consistently used targeted missile and drone strikes to knock out Ukraine's power grid, while Kyiv has hit oil and gas facilities inside Russian territory with long-range drones.
Ukraine and the U.S. previously agreed on a full 30-day truce during their talks in Jeddah on March 11. Russia had rejected this proposal unless it included conditions undermining Kyiv's ability to defend itself, such as a full halt on foreign military aid.
Moscow has claimed that its side of the energy ceasefire has been in effect since March 18, when Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly declared a halt on such attacks following a call with U.S. President Donald Trump.
In spite of this, Russian forces also reportedly attacked Kherson's energy infrastructure on March 27, violating the terms of the U.S.-brokered limited ceasefire.
Dominic Culverwell
(Updated: )
