Zelenskiy says Russia waited for bad weather for attack on energy sites

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(Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Russia deliberately waited for bad weather before staging a vast attack on Ukraine’s energy system, adding the conditions reduced the efficiency of air defences by between 20% and 30%.

“The main assault was in four regions,” Zelenskiy told reporters in Kyiv. “I believe that the weather conditions affected our capability to repel by something like 20-30%.”

Russian drones and missiles struck Ukrainian energy facilities overnight, plunging parts of Kyiv into darkness, cutting power and water to homes and halting a metro link across the Dnipro river. Ukraine’s energy ministry said 380,000 customers were still disconnected on Friday afternoon.

“The blow is strong, but it is definitely not fatal,” he said about the strikes.

Zelenskiy said there were 203 energy facilities in the country which needed air defences to protect them from Russia.

He said Russian forces had attempted a new assault near the town of Dobropillia in eastern Donetsk region, where Kyiv has reported successes in recent weeks, but had been repelled.

“The Russians tried to stage some offensive actions,” he said. “They wanted to unblock their troops, but they suffered losses and retreated.”

Zelenskiy also said Ukraine was waiting for clarification of the status of 10 air defence systems promised by the U.S.

He said he hoped the “coalition of the willing”, a group of countries pledged to strengthen support for Ukraine, would hold a new meeting this month.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, Editing by Sharon Singleton, Ron Popeski and David Gregorio)