Russia's onslaught against Ukraine's energy infrastructure plunged the country into wintry darkness, threatening to trigger another refugee exodus and underscoring Kyiv's need for more air defense systems. Temperatures dropped below zero as night fell on Wednesday with millions of Ukrainians without heat, light or water after Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces fired scores of missiles against its neighbour's power infrastructure.

Ukrainian authorities enacted emergency blackouts and took three nuclear plants offline after rocket attacks knocked out power lines and left the reactors nowhere to transmit electricity. Even before the latest barrage, weeks of attacks had wrought more than $1.9 billion of damage to the grid, according to the state distribution utility, that will take considerable time to repair.

"Energy terror continues," Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Telegram. "We will withstand. They won't break us."

Russia's onslaught against Ukraine's energy infrastructure plunged the country into wintry darkness, threatening to trigger another refugee exodus and underscoring Kyiv's need for more air defense systems. Temperatures dropped below zero as night fell on Wednesday with millions of Ukrainians without heat, light or water after Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces fired scores of missiles against its neighbour's power infrastructure.

Ukrainian authorities enacted emergency blackouts and took three nuclear plants offline after rocket attacks knocked out power lines and left the reactors nowhere to transmit electricity. Even before the latest barrage, weeks of attacks had wrought more than $1.9 billion of damage to the grid, according to the state distribution utility, that will take considerable time to repair.

"Energy terror continues," Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Telegram. "We will withstand. They won't break us."