KYIV: Ukraine’s air force on Saturday said it downed nine out of 14 drones launched by Russia over southern and central regions overnight.

Kyiv said most of the drones were directed at energy facilities in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, where thousands have been without power since Russian strikes on Friday.

The outages have mainly affected the main city of Krivyi Rig – the home town of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Ukraine destroyed nine enemy drones within the Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Mykolaiv and Zhytomyr regions,” the air force said, adding that most of the Iranian-made Shahed drones were directed at “energy infrastructure facilities” in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russian drone attack in Ukraine leaves 40,000 without power

Regional head Sergey Lysak said 15,000 people were without electricity in the city after the drone strikes.

He said fires caused by the strikes affected “two boiler houses” in the city and said “some families were left without water supply”.

He reported “no deaths or injuries” in the strikes but damage to two private houses.

The head of Kryvyi Rig, Oleksandr Vilkul, said energy companies will “introduce schedules of emergency shutdowns” in the city.

He said the city’s high-speed tram will stop running and that a part of some hospitals will switch to energy generators.

Ukraine’s energy ministry said it was working to restore critical infrastructure.

Russia has targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure throughout its almost two-year offensive, leaving thousands of people without heat during an intense campaign last year.