KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Fresh Russian strikes battered Ukraine's already failing electricity grid, causing blackouts across the war-torn nation and in neighboring Moldova.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the latest Russian strikes that killed several people and disconnected three nuclear power stations was a response to a decision by the European
Parliament to recognize Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism" over its nine-month invasion of Ukraine, and its call for the 27-nation European Union to follow.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram that three people were killed in the attacks in the capital, including a 17-year-old girl, and 11 residents were injured.

AFP reporters at the scene of one strike in Kyiv saw the burnt out remains of two cars and the bodies of two people killed in the blast.

Ukraine's military said Russian forces had fired around 70 cruise missiles at targets across the country Wednesday and also deployed attack drones.

The strikes piled pressure on the Ukrainian grid, disrupting power supplies in southern and eastern regions, with water and electricity cuts in the capital Kyiv.

Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi said half of the western city was without electricity.

Neighboring Moldova said it was suffering massive blackouts caused by the missile barrage and its EU-friendly president, Maia Sandu, accused Russia of leaving her country "in the dark."

Ukraine's nuclear energy operator Energoatom said Wednesday's strikes had disconnected all three nuclear power plants still under Ukrainian control from the grid and forced the plant in Zaporizhzhia — controlled by Russian forces — to be powered by backup generators.

"When we have the temperature below zero, and scores of millions of people without energy supplies, without heating, without water, this is an obvious crime against humanity," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations Security Council late Wednesday via video-link.

The French ambassador to the United Nations called the Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy system "a clear violation of humanitarian law."

"The objective is clear: in the face of military defeats, to sow terror," Nicolas de Riviere told the UN Security Council on Wednesday. "The continuation of these reprisals is intolerable."

The resolution approved by EU lawmakers said the "deliberate attacks and atrocities carried out by the Russian Federation against the civilian population of Ukraine… and other serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law amount to acts of terror."

Ukraine praised the decision, with Zelensky calling for Russia to be "held accountable in order to end its long-standing policy of terrorism in Ukraine and across the globe."