1.5 million people left without power in Ukraine

Darkness gripped Ukraine's Odesa on Saturday as over 1.5 million people in the port city were left without electricity amid dipping temperatures after the energy facilities were hit, Al Jazeera reported.

During his nightly address, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the situation is very difficult in the port city of Odesa as the energy facilities might take months to get repaired.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, Odesa was left without electricity after two energy facilities in the area were attacked by drones built in Iran during the continuing conflict, causing damage to the energy infrastructure. According to officials, during the early hours of Saturday, Russian strikes struck important transmission lines and machinery, reported Al Jazeera.

Only critical infrastructure, including hospitals and maternity wards, had access to electricity, the authorities said.

"As of now, the city is without electricity," Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential administration, said on messaging app Telegram.

Odesa, which is the largest port city of Ukraine had a population of more than one million before Russia invaded the country on February 24 this year.

Meanwhile, in November, the Nikopol district in southern Ukraine was hit by Russian shells, according to the head of the Nikopol district military administration, as per CNN.

"About sixty shells and rocket munitions fell on peaceful settlements," the head of the administration of the Nikopol district, Yevhen Yevtushenko said in a Telegram post.

"Although residential buildings and cars were damaged, no one was reported injured in the shelling," Yevtushenko added.

Notably, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which is seized by Russia, is located across the river from the Nikopol district, which is situated in the Dnipropetrovsk area, reported CNN.

Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, after the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) appealed for help in defending themselves against the Kyiv forces. Russia has always claimed that the aim of its special operation is to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine and that only military infrastructure is being targeted.