Hundreds of thousands left without power in Ukraine after Russian strikes, authorities say

Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power after Russian strikes hit Ukraine's energy infrastructure, authorities said on Sunday.

In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, "more than 600,000 residents of the region have been left without power," power company DTEK said on Telegram after a "night attack has damaged important energy facilities".

It said the company was working to restore electricity but the task was "complicated by repeated attacks".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr previously accused Russia of ramping up attacks on Ukraine ahead of trilateral talks next week with Russia.

In another strike, a Russian drone hit "a critical infrastructure facility" in the northeastern Kharkiv region, the mayor of Zlatopil city, Mykola Baksheyev, said on social media.

"Nearly 250,000 customers in the Kharkiv region were left without power," Baksheyev said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the night-time strikes had triggered "widespread power outages across the country".

"In the Zhytomyr region alone, 140 apartment buildings were left without heating following a Russian strike," he said, as temperatures in Ukraine already hovered around freezing.

He also said Russia had launched a drone at Komyshuvakha, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region where Moscow had hit an aid distribution centre on Monday in one of the deadliest attacks of the war.

The death toll has risen to 55 people, Zelenskyy said. Emergency services previously put it at 50 killed.

"This morning, the Russians attacked Komyshuvakha with an FPV drone, where emergency rescue operations have been underway for seven days ... Unfortunately, more people may still be under the rubble," Zelenskyy said.

The strikes came a day after Ukraine's energy ministry said a massive attack on energy facilities had plunged residents in five regions into darkness and significantly hampered electricity transmission in Kyiv.