Russia has intensified its air strikes on Ukrainian cities as part of a deliberate strategy to cripple the country’s energy system and demoralize its population after a summer offensive failed to gain traction.

As winter approaches, Russian missiles and drones triggered a blackout in Kyiv early Friday reminiscent of sprawling power disruptions in the capital in the first full winter of the war, in 2022-2023. Destruction and outages in other regions across the war-battered nation spread as air defenses struggled to down hundreds of projectiles across Ukraine’s vast territory.

President Vladimir Putin’s ground offensive this year failed to bring the Kremlin closer to its war goals, including wresting full control over the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk — and far short of ambitions

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