Heavy Russian attacks leave over 100,000 Ukrainians in the dark

A heavy series of Russian air strikes cut off water and electricity to more than 100,000 households in northern Ukraine on Saturday, forcing Poland to divert some of its surplus energy to the war-torn country.

Urgent repairs were being carried out on the national power grid, but it was unclear late Saturday when power might be restored.

The Russian attacks also led to emergency closures for residents of the city of Sumy, which lies directly on the northeastern border with Russia.

As the Kyiv Independent reported, at least 12 people were killed and more than 50 injured in the fighting last day.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during a one-on-one meeting in the Kremlin on Friday that if Ukraine wants an end to the war, it must surrender.

Putin said “many steps are needed to end the war and achieve peace,” including the withdrawal of all Ukrainian troops from four eastern provinces that Moscow says it has annexed.

Ukrainian government officials said they had nothing to do with organizing the meeting with Orbán, and European leaders criticized the Hungarian prime minister for his meeting with Putin.

In other news, a new report says nearly 120,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the Ukraine war began in February 2022.

This latest figure is based on information from the Russian government.

The report suggests that the actual number of Russian soldiers killed may be closer to 140,000.

This is a far cry from the nearly 550,000 soldiers that Ukraine says Russia has lost in its “meat grinder” battles in the east.

There are also new reports that Russian soldiers continue to attack each other; last year alone, soldiers killed their comrades in 135 cases.

According to experts, the number is likely to be significantly higher.

Other violent crimes that soldiers were charged with in 2023 include manslaughter, violation of firearms regulations and assault.

Since invading the country, Russia has repeatedly allowed convicted prisoners to be released from prison so that they could take part in the fighting on the front lines.

In Russia, many cases of murder were covered up. The authorities downgraded the charge to “violation of the rules for handling firearms.” Last year, there were 32 such cases.

With post wires