Emergencies services spokesman Oleksandr Khorunzhyi
said more than 70 people had been killed in the rocket and drone strikes since
7 October.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 30% of
Ukraine's power stations had been destroyed in the past eight days.
Parts of the capital Kyiv have no power and water
after new strikes on Tuesday.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said that all three
victims of the latest Russian strikes were employees of "critical
infrastructure", adding that two facilities in the capital had been hit.
Power and water were cut in Zhytomyr, west of the
capital, and one energy facility was hit in the south-eastern city of Dnipro.
At Tuesday's briefing in Kyiv, Mr Khorunzhyi said:
"In the period from October 7 to 18, as a result of shelling of energy
facilities, about 4,000 settlements in 11 regions [of Ukraine] were cut off.
"Currently, according to the energy ministry,
1,162 settlements remain without power," the emergencies services
spokesman said.
After suffering a series of painful defeats on the
battlefield, Russia has stepped up attacks in recent weeks on electricity
infrastructure in cities away from the front lines.
Ukrainian emergency officials have rushed to repair
the damage, but the strikes, ahead of winter, have raised concerns about how
the system will respond.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the
president's office, said that "everyone should be ready, first, to save
electricity, and second, rolling power blackouts are also possible if strikes
continue".
"The entire population needs to prepare for a
tough winter."
Ukrainian are being urged not use electric
appliances between 07:00 - 09:00 local time (04:00 - 06:00 GMT) and 17:00 -
22:00 on a daily basis.
The latest attacks came 24 hours after
"kamikaze" drones - believed to have been supplied by Iran - killed
at least nine people in Kyiv and Sumy, in the north-east.
It was not initially clear to what extent drones
were involved on Tuesday.
Ukraine said Russian bombers had fired missiles and
one S-300 anti-aircraft missile had hit a residential building in the southern
city of Mykolaiv overnight, killing one person. The city's flower market was
also destroyed.
In other attacks early on Tuesday:
In Zhytomyr, the mayor said there was no power or
water in the city and hospitals were working on back-up power
11 villages in the Zhytomyr region were also without
electricity, officials said.
Power and water supplies were disrupted in the
central city of Dnipro, where a large energy facility was destroyed, and
officials said street lighting would be turned off
Shelling was reported in the north-eastern city of
Kharkiv
Infrastructure in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia
was hit, although local officials said no-one had been hurt.
In some cities, Ukrainians are buying power
generators and gas burners. Some towns are already facing rolling blackouts.
In a separate development, Ukraine's state nuclear
energy company accused Moscow of abducting two senior officials at its nuclear
plant at Zaporizhzhia.
The plant - Europe's biggest - is occupied by
Russian forces but its Ukrainian staff continue to work there under difficult
conditions.
"We were expecting that Russia will intensify
attacks on energy infrastructure and civilian infrastructure and increase the
urban warfare towards autumn - and here we are exactly with that scenario
taking place," Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko told the BBC.
In its latest assessment, UK defence intelligence
said it was highly likely that Russia had become increasingly willing to strike
civilian infrastructure, in addition to military targets, since its setbacks on
the battlefield.
Russia's missile and drone attacks have brought
renewed calls from the Ukrainian government for the delivery of air defence
missiles.
Earlier, the US said it agreed with its French and
UK allies that the supply of drones by Iran violated a UN Security Council
resolution linked to a nuclear agreement, barring the transfer of certain
military technology.
Ukraine has identified the drones used in deadly
attacks on Kyiv and Sumy as Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). They
are known as Geran-2 in Russia.
Vedant Patel of the US state department said
Washington would not hesitate to use sanctions. The EU said it was gathering
evidence and was ready to act.
Both Russia and Iran have denied that Iranian drones
were deployed.
However, Western officials in Ukraine said it was
not in doubt that the drones had come from Iran and it was obvious Russia was
seeking to attack the power network.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he
would ask President Zelensky to sever diplomatic ties with Tehran. He also said
an official note would be sent to Israel appealing for immediate air defence
supplies.
Israeli officials have so far stopped short of
sending weapons to Kyiv. One Russian security figure, Dmitry Medvedev, has
warned that if they did, relations with Moscow would be destroyed.
Meanwhile, in one of the biggest prisoner swaps
since Russia's war began in February, 218 detainees were exchanged - including
108 Ukrainian women.
And across the Sea of Azov from Ukraine, a Russian
fighter jet crashed into the courtyard of a block of flats in the southern
Russian town of Yeysk. At least 13 people were killed, including three
children, while dozens of residents were rescued from the nine-storey block.
The pilots on board the Su-34 plane ejected.