Ukraine said early Tuesday that energy facilities in the country’s northeastern Sumy region were targeted during an overnight Russian airstrike.
“On the night of August 20, the enemy (Russia) launched a rocket attack on the energy facilities of the Hlukhiv community,” said a statement by the Sumy Regional Military Administration on Telegram.
The statement said 72 settlements and more than 18,500 people were left without electricity due to the attack, indicating that emergency and recovery works are currently underway.
It further said that electricity has already been restored to some of the critical infrastructure of Hlukhiv, which is located about 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) from the Russian border.
The regional military administration also said in an earlier statement that Sumy's border areas and settlements were shelled overnight and in the morning, adding that one person was injured in the region over the past 24 hours.
Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine’s Air Force, claimed on Telegram that the country’s air defenses downed three missiles and 25 attack drones during an overnight Russian airstrike.
Oleshchuk went on to say that the missiles and drones launched were downed over the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions.
Local authorities in the aforementioned regions, including the capital Kyiv, did not report any casualties in their respective areas.
Russian authorities have not yet commented on Ukraine’s claims.
By Burc Eruygur
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr