Situation in Ukraine 'critical' following Russian strikes on energy facilities, says Kyiv

Ukrainian energy facilities battled fresh Russian air strikes on Tuesday in an area of northern Kyiv where there is a thermal power station. Several explosions were heard and witnessed reported seeing thick smoke rising into the sky.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential office, said there had been three Russian strikes on an unspecified energy facility. City mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was on "critical infrastructure" in northern Kyiv. Neither official said whether the thermal power station had been hit. They also gave no casualty details.

Tymoshenko later told a Ukrainian television channel that the situation in Ukraine is "critical" following waves of Russian strikes targeting the country's energy infrastructure ahead of winter.

"The situation is critical now across the country because our regions are dependent on one another... it's necessary for the whole country to prepare for electricity, water and heating outages," Tymoshenko said.

"Ukraine is under fire by the occupiers. They continue to do what they do best - terrorise and kill civilians," President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

"The terrorist state will not change anything for itself with such actions. It will only confirm its destructive and murderous essence, for which it will certainly be held to account."

In a Telegram post, Tymoshenko said two air strikes caused "serious damage" to an energy facility in the southeastern city of Dnipro.

"There is a fire raging and serious destruction," regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said of the strike on Dnipro.

The northern city of Zhytomyr was left without water and electricity supplies, its mayor said.

Earlier on Tuesday,a Russian missile struck an apartment building in the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv. At least three explosions were heard in the city in the weehours. It completely destroyed one wing of the building in the downtown area, leaving a massive crater.

Separately, Ukraine accused Russia of kidnapping two senior employees at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.In a Telegram post, Energoatom said Russian forces on Monday "kidnapped" the head of information technology Oleg Kostyukov and the plant's assistant general director Oleg Osheka and "took them to an unknown destination".

"At present, nothing is known of their whereabouts or condition."

The latest strikes came hours after the United States warned that it would hold Russia accountable for war crimes.

A fire crew pulled the dead body of a man from the rubble, a witness told Reuters.

On Monday, Russian strikes on Kyiv and other cities had killed at least four people, the second wave of air strikes in a week. "Right now, there is a new Russian drone attack," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Monday evening video address. "There are (drones) that have been shot down."

Ukraine said the attacks were carried out by Iran-made "suicide drones", which fly to their target and detonate. US President Joe Biden's press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the White House "strongly condemns Russia’s missile strikes" and said the attack "continues to demonstrate Putin’s brutality".

Ukraine forces have been advancing in the east and south, with Moscow losing ground. On October 8, there was a blast on a bridge connecting Russia to Crimea.