Power is being restored in Ukraine after a barrage of Russian missile strikes left millions struggling to access electricity, water or heating.

Infrastructure teams have been working around the clock to bring back essential services to families facing freezing weather with, at most, a few hours of electricity per day.

The number of affected households halved from Wednesday to Saturday and power grid operator Ukrenergo said yesterday 80 per cent of demand was being met.

It came as snow blanketed Kyiv, where more than 60 per cent of households had been without power.

The icy conditions could bring an increase in fighting with the Russian invaders after heavy rain and mud bogged down troops.

‘It is unclear if either side is actively planning to resume major offensive or counter-offensive operations but the meteorological factors that have been hindering such operations will begin lifting,’ said the Institute for the Study of War.

Meanwhile, shelling has killed five people in a day in Donetsk and one person in Kharkiv, injuring three, said their governors. Overnight attacks were reported in Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia, where volunteers have been clearing the rubble after bombs destroyed the maternity section of a hospital and killed a baby last week.

In recently liberated city Kherson, residents have been inspecting the destruction of the Antonivsky Bridge.

The main crossing point over the Dnipro was wrecked by retreating troops earlier this month.

Russia’s humiliating departure from Kherson was hailed as a turning point by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. But the southern port now faces intense shelling, prompting some residents to flee in a long column of cars, vans and trucks.

‘Artillery hit our house. Four flats burned down. Windows shattered,’ said Vitaliy Nadochiy, driving away with his dog on his lap. ‘We can’t be there. There is no electricity, no water, heating. So we are leaving.’

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