Deadly cost of Russian shelligs and blackouts: 15 children among 25 injured in weekend carbon monoxide tragedies across Ukraine

Over Saturday and Sunday in Ukraine, four people died from carbon monoxide poisoning, and another 25 suffered from it, including 15 children, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES).

“In just less than two full days of February 7-8, the ‘silent killer’ caused nine tragic cases throughout the country. Among the victims are entire families with very small children. This morning in the village of Zhukivtsi in the Kyiv region, due to a violation of the rules for using a generator, four people suffered. Among them are children born in 2024 and 2025. From malfunctions of stoves and gas heating in the Ternopil region and in Vinnytsia, four people died (two in each region).”

 The SES specified that the tragedies occurred mostly in rural areas and covered eight regions: Vinnytsia, Ternopil, Kyiv, Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, and Odesa.

Previously, ZMINA reported that on the night of February 7, Russian troops carried out another massive attack on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine. The Russian army launched strikes on substations and overhead lines, as well as on the Burshtyn and Dobrotvir TPPs.

Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže called Russia’s targeted strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, terror against the people, to freeze them to death.

According to the diplomat, the Kremlin’s actions are a deliberate act of terror aimed at creating a humanitarian disaster during the winter period.

Russia attacked the energy sector of Ukraine, high-voltage power lines, and key substations, which affected nuclear energy production. This is terror against the people of Ukraine to freeze them to death,” she commented. 

Braže reported that her state is sending new aid to Ukraine and advocates for massive sanctions against Russia.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Saturday called on the world community to take measures against Russian terror, stating that it puts the entire European continent at risk of a nuclear accident.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on February 7 that, as a result of Russian strikes that day, units at Ukrainian NPPs reduced generation, and one unit automatically shut down.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys stated that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is bluffing regarding an energy truce and instead continues to terrorize Ukrainians, using winter as a weapon.