Many residents in Kyiv had no power or water services in homes after Russian strikes. Photo: ANDRE LUIS ALVES/ Anadolu Agency via AFP
Nine people in one day have died from from fires in Ukraine, as people tried to heat their homes after Russian attacks on power facilities, the state emergency service says.
It said the number of fires has risen over 24 hours as Ukrainians broke safety rules, increasingly resorting to using emergency generators, candles and gas cylinders in their homes because of power outages.
"Only in the last day there were 131 fires in Ukraine, 106 of them in the residential sector. Nine people died, eight were injured," the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in statement.
"Generators on balconies, gas cylinders in apartments, lit candles ... due to violations of fire safety rules, the use of uncertified products for heating and cooking, incidents of fires and explosions in high-rise and private buildings have become more frequent."
The statement urged Ukrainians to take more care in their homes and explain fire risks to children.
Ukraine is still struggling to restore electricity networks a week after Russian missile strikes that damaged energy facilities across the country.
National power grid operator Ukrenegro said the electricity deficit had fallen slightly from 30 percent on Tuesday morning to 27 percent on Wednesday morning.
Energy consumption has risen as winter sets in. Weather forecasters said the temperature in the capital Kyiv would fall to -6 degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight and were set to soon drop further.
- Reuters