Ukraine warns of Russian 'brutality'

Kyiv: Russian forces are stepping up their strikes in a fiercely contested region of eastern Ukraine, worsening the already tough conditions for residents and the defending army following Moscow's illegal annexation and declaration of martial law in Donetsk province, Ukrainian authorities said.

The attacks have almost completely destroyed the power plants that serve the city of Bakhmut and the nearby town of Soledar, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the region's Ukrainian governor, said. Shelling killed one civilians and wounded three, he reported late Saturday. The destruction is daily, if not hourly, Kyrylenko said in a state television interview. Moscow-backed separatists controlled part of Donetsk for nearly eight years before Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. Protecting the separatists' self-proclaimed republic there was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's justifications for the invasion, and his troops have spent months trying to capture the entire province.

While Russia's greatest brutality was focused in the Donetsk region, constant fighting continued elsewhere along the front line that stretches more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

Between Saturday and Sunday, Russia's launched four missiles and 19 airstrikes impacting more than 35 villages in seven regions, from Chernihiv and Kharkiv in the northeast to Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south, according to the president's office. Russia has focused on striking energy infrastructure over the last month, causing power shortages and rolling outages across the country. Kyiv was scheduled to have hourly blackouts rotating Sunday in various parts of the city of some 3 million and the surrounding region, Rolling blackouts also were planned in the Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava regions, Ukraine's state-owned energy operator, Ukrenergo, said.