Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave his nightly video address in darkness as Ukraine was forced into blackouts by Russian attacks on its power grid.
Ukraine is facing an extreme shortage of energy after Russian forces launched a series of airstrikes on power stations and gas and water supplies this month.
Standing in a dimly-lit square, Zelenskyy opened his speech on Thursday by addressing the nation as “warriors of light.”
“We are not afraid of the dark,” he said. “The darkest times for us are not without light, but without freedom.”
Though no location was given, Financial Times correspondent Christopher Miller said it was filmed in Kyiv, the capital.
Last week, Russian forces used 40 cruise missiles and 16 Iranian-made drones to strike Ukrainian cities far from the front. The attacks plunged more than 1.4 million Ukrainian households into darkness, Zelenskyy’s office said.
Parts of Kyiv were left without power, as was the northern city of Zhytomyr while power plants in other areas were also hit, Ukrainian officials said.
During his nightly address, Zelenskyy also posed alongside what he said is a drone shot down by Ukrainian forces.
Standing by the wreckage that resembled one of the Shahed-136 “suicide” drones supplied to Russia by Iran, he pledged to “clip the wings of all metal monsters, no matter how many of them and from where they fly in the direction of Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s power utility, Ukrenergo, recently urged people to ration their electricity consumption, warning that power outages could last up to 10 hours a day in areas where power lines are still intact.
In Kyiv, some residents have left food and water supplies in elevators in case people get stuck in them during a blackout, The Guardian reported.
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