Storms cut power to thousands in Ukraine

Thousands of people in Ukraine were left without power on Tuesday after strong winds and heavy rain damaged electrical infrastructure, authorities said.

The overnight storms put further strain on Ukraine's fragile energy system, already reeling from near continuous Russian bombardment for the past three and a half weeks.

"Due to the bad weather, 173 settlements in four regions are without power supply," Ukraine's energy ministry said.

In the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, the worst affected area, over 15,000 people in 96 towns and villages were cut off, it said.

One of the main energy providers, DTEK, said its engineers had worked "all night and in the morning" to restore power to the region.

"We are making every effort to restore power to all homes by the end of the day," it said.

The storms come weeks after national grid operator Ukrenergo warned Ukraine needed to completely overhaul its energy system amid a series of deadly Russian strikes.

Moscow launched a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine's power grid on 22 March and has kept up strikes since, leaving over a million people without electricity.