Zhytomyr left without power after Russian strikes

Air strikes cut power and water supplies in the repeatedly bombed Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr and pounded energy and infrastructure facilities elsewhere in the country on Tuesday, part of an apparent quickening effort by Russia to drive Ukrainians into the cold and dark as winter bites.

All of Zhytomyr, a city with military bases 140 kilometres (85 miles) west from the capital, was without electricity after a double missile strike on an energy facility, according to Mayor Serhiy Sukhomlyn.

Hospitals were left running on backup power, he said.

Missile strikes also hit an energy facility in Kyiv and severely damaged another in the south central city of Dnipro, authorities said.

Waves of explosives-laden suicide drones had also struck Kyiv on Monday, hitting energy facilities and setting ablaze and partly collapsing buildings.

One drone slammed into a four-story residential building, killing four people.

In a televised address on Monday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is using kamikaze drones because it is losing the war, now nearing its eighth full month.