Ukraine is introducing emergency power cuts in all but two regions following a spate of Russian strikes that have hobbled the country's energy system, officials say.

Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities as winter approaches, seriously damaging gas production and plunging major cities including the capital Kyiv into periods of darkness.

In a statement, Ukraine's energy ministry said the fallout from recent strikes had forced it to implement the cuts.

Planned power outages had already been in place in the eastern Donetsk and northern Chernihiv regions.

Earlier on Wednesday, leading private energy provider DTEK said it had returned power to 1.9 million residents mostly in Kyiv and the southern Odesa and southeastern Dnipropetrovsk regions over the past week.

Gas h

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