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No electricity, water in Kherson after Kyiv strike

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MOSCOW: Ukraine's Moscow-occupied southern city of Kherson was cut off from electricity and water supplies after a Kyiv strike on nearby power lines, Russian-installed authorities said on Sunday.


"In Kherson and a number of other areas in the region, there is temporarily no electricity or water supply," the city's Moscow-installed administration said on Telegram.


It said it was a "result of an attack organised by the Ukrainian side on the Berislav-Kakhovka highway that saw three concrete poles of high-voltage power lines damaged".


Energy specialists were working to "quickly" resolve the issue, the Russian-backed authorities said, as they called on people to "remain calm".


It is the first time Kherson -- which fell to Moscow's forces within days of their offensive launched in February -- has seen such a power cut.


As Ukraine presses with a counteroffensive in the south, Moscow's occupational forces in Kherson have vowed to turn the city into a "fortress". Russian forces have for weeks organised a civilian pull-out from the Kherson region as Ukrainian troops advance, which Kyiv has called "deportations".


Moscow has in recent weeks hit Ukraine's energy infrastructure, causing mass power cuts across the country.


Meanwhile, emergency services in Moscow-occupied Ukraine said the key Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled region of Kherson was "damaged" by a Ukrainian strike, Russian news agencies reported.


"Today at 10:00 (0800 GMT) there was a hit of six HIMARS rockets. Air defence units shot down five missiles, one hit a lock of the Kakhovka dam, which was damaged," Russian agencies quoted local emergency services as saying.


Ukraine has in recent weeks warned that Moscow forces intended to blow up the strategic facility to cause flooding.


The RIA Novosti news agency then quoted a local Moscow-backed official saying the damage was not "critical."


"Everything is under control. The main air defence strikes were repelled, one missile hit (the dam), but did not cause critical damage," Ruslan Agayev, a representative of the Moscow-installed administration of nearby city Novaya Kakhovka told the agency.


The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in southern Ukraine was captured by Moscow's forces at the start of their offensive. It supplies Russian-annexed Crimea with water.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian troops of planning to blow it up to trigger a devastating flood. Upstream from the dam is the Kakhovka reservoir on the Dnieper.


Kyiv has said that the dam bursting would cause a "catastrophe on a grand scale" and has called for an international mission to be deployed at the dam. -- Agencies


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