Zelenskiy expects Russia to resume attacks on Ukraine's power grid

FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens as he attends a meeting with Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar (not pictured) at Horodetskyi House, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 19, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/Pool/File Photo

KYIV (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that he expects Russia to resume its attacks on Ukraine's energy system once cold weather returns later this year, and vowed to do everything possible to protect the power grid.

Nearly 40% of the Ukrainian energy system was damaged in Russian missile and drone strikes over the past winter, which plunged Ukrainian cities into darkness and cold in what Kyiv called a deliberate strategy to harm civilians, a war crime. Moscow says it launched the attacks to reduce Ukraine's ability to fight.