Russia drones smash power network in Odesa - Reuters

Dec 10 (Reuters) - All non-critical infrastructure successful the Ukrainian larboard of Odesa was without powerfulness aft Russia utilized Iranian-made drones to deed 2 vigor facilities, officials said connected Saturday, adding it could instrumentality months to repair the damage.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said much than 1.5 cardinal radical successful the confederate larboard metropolis and surrounding portion had nary electricity, and helium described the concern arsenic precise difficult.

Since October, Moscow has been targeting Ukraine's vigor infrastructure with ample waves of rocket and drone strikes.

The determination medication said radical who relied solely connected energy to powerfulness their homes should see leaving. Officials said Russian strikes deed cardinal transmission lines and instrumentality successful the aboriginal hours of Saturday.

"According to preliminary forecasts, it volition instrumentality overmuch much clip to reconstruct vigor facilities successful the Odesa portion than aft erstwhile attacks," the medication said.

"We are talking not astir days, but adjacent weeks and perchance adjacent 2 to 3 months," it said successful a Facebook post.

Odesa, Ukraine's largest larboard city, had a colonisation of implicit 1 cardinal earlier Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

Kyiv says Russia has launched hundreds of Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones astatine targets successful Ukraine and describes the attacks arsenic warfare crimes owed to their devastating effect connected civilian life. Moscow claims they are militarily legitimate.

In a video address, Zelenskiy said determination was a important shortfall successful the magnitude of powerfulness being generated.

Ukraine's authoritative general's bureau said 2 powerfulness facilities successful Odesa portion were deed by Shahed-136 drones.

Ukraine's equipped forces said connected Facebook that 15 drones had been launched against targets successful the confederate regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv, and 10 had been changeable down.

Tehran denies supplying the drones to Moscow. Kyiv and its Western allies accidental that is simply a lie.

Britain's defence ministry said connected Saturday that it believed Iran's subject enactment for Russia was apt to summation successful the coming months, including imaginable deliveries of ballistic missiles.

Reporting by Max Hunder and David Ljunggren; Editing by Ros Russell and Daniel Wallis

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