Ukraine's deputy prime minister says. Oleksiy Kuleba added that work was continuing to restore services following the large-scale attack, which damaged infrastructure across the south-east. Electricity supplies were also disrupted for thousands more people in neighbouring Zaporizhzhia, but power has since been restored. Russia has recently intensified attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, aimed at paralysing power supplies during a harsh winter. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused it of "mockery" and pleaded for Western support.

Hospitals, water facilities and other critical services in Dnipropetrovsk were operating on backup systems, the energy ministry said, while residents were urged to limit electricity use to avoid further strain on the grid. DTEK, Ukraine's biggest private energy provider, is living in permanent crisis mode because of Russian attacks on the grid, its chief executive told the BBC last month, with most of Ukraine suffering from lengthy power cuts during winter. Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, which provides power for 5.6 million Ukrainians, said the intensity of strikes had been so frequent "we just don't have time to recover".

As the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion approaches, Timchenko said Russia had repeatedly targeted DTEK's energy grid with "waves of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles" and his company had found it difficult to cope. "There is no military sense in such strikes on the energy sector, on infrastructure, which leave people without electricity and heating in winter conditions," Zelensky said. He urged Ukrainians to remain "resilient" against Russia's attempts "to break Ukraine" and added that peace talks aimed at ending the war should not be a reason to slow down Western supplies for Ukraine's air defences. Zelensky has been on a diplomatic tour this week - meeting allies in the "Coalition of the Willing" and US President Donald Trump's peace envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Following those talks in Paris on Tuesday, the UK and France signed a declaration of intent on deploying troops in Ukraine if a peace deal is reached - a move Moscow warned would make foreign forces a "legitimate target". (BBC)