Ukraine's attacks cut power to Russian-controlled parts of Zaporizhzhia

The entire Russian-controlled portion of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region has lost electricity following Ukrainian military strikes, according to Russian state media reports.

"As a result of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, high-voltage equipment was damaged in the northwestern part of the Zaporizhzhia region," said Yevgeny Balitsky, head of the Russian-installed administration, as cited by RIA Novosti on Tuesday. "There is no electricity throughout the region."

Despite the widespread outage, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant remains operational and unaffected, TASS news agency reported, quoting an official at the facility.

This escalation follows Ukraine's recent drone attacks targeting Russian military airfields.

On Sunday, Ukraine launched a large-scale drone operation, codenamed "Spider Web," striking multiple Russian airbases, including those in the Irkutsk and Murmansk regions,

The operation reportedly damaged or destroyed over 40 strategic bomber aircraft, including Tu-95 and Tu-22 models, and inflicted approximately $7 billion in damages. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the mission as a "historic" success

Istanbul peace talks

The attacks coincided with renewed peace talks between Ukraine and Russia held in Istanbul on Monday.

Both sides agreed to a new prisoner exchange involving seriously wounded and young soldiers, as well as the return of 6,000 fallen soldiers' remains.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan described the atmosphere as "constructive," noting that technical-level discussions would continue in the coming days.

The talks mark the second round of direct negotiations between the two nations in less than a month, with the previous meeting on May 16 resulting in the largest prisoner swap since the conflict began in February 2022.

___

Source: TRT