‘No space left for talks with Putin’: Zelenskyy as Russia keeps bombing Ukraine

SMA NEWS – KYIV
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said there was “no space left for negotiations” with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin amid the ongoing war which saw a fresh escalation after the latter ordered a partial mobilisation of forces about a month ago.
There was “no space left for negotiations with (President Vladimir) Putin’s regime”, Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.
He further said that Russian forces have destroyed a third of Ukraine’s power stations within a week in repeated strikes targeting energy infrastructure and causing blackouts across the country. Ukraine capital Kyiv is among several regions of the war-hit nation that experienced power cuts after a fresh round of strikes on Tuesday.
“Since October 10, 30 percent of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed, causing massive blackouts across the country,” Zelenskyy said.
In Kyiv, energy operator DTEK flagged “interruptions” in electricity and water supply to residents of the capital’s left bank. “Engineers are investigating and making all the necessary efforts to restore the power to the city’s residents,” the company said on Facebook.
In view of blackouts, the residents have been urged to save electricity “as much as possible” and avoid using appliances with high energy consumption.
Other areas witnessing power cuts include parts of the Zhytomyr region – located west of Kyiv. The region’s main city, Zhytomyr, was without electricity and water with hospitals working “on backup power supplies”, mayor Sergiy Shukhomlyn said on Facebook.
“Interruptions” in the water supply were reported on the left bank of Dnipro city, and the neighbouring city of Pavlograd.
Ukraine’s presidency called the latest situation owing to Russian strikes on energy infrastructure “critical”. “The situation is critical now across the country because our regions are dependent on one another… it’s necessary for the whole country to prepare for electricity, water and heating outages,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, was quoted as telling Ukrainian television.
In a fresh bombing on Kyiv on Monday, Russian drones destroyed a residential building in the centre and killed five people in what the country said was an “attack of desperation”. This was the second Monday in a row that saw fresh bombing by Russia which military observers said appears to be Moscow’s response to battlefield losses.