Volodymyr Zelensky made the declaration in a video address to the nation on Sunday night, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
Zelensky said: "I held a meeting of the staff. The situation on the frontline, the restoration of the energy infrastructure, the intelligence data on the plans of the occupiers, internal challenges. We work everything out in detail.”
He added: “Restoration work continues in the south of our country - we are doing everything to restore the light supply to Odesa. As of this time, we managed to partially restore the supply in Odesa and other cities and districts of the region.”
Zelensky said the authorities were ”doing everything to achieve the maximum possible after the Russian hits,” adding: “But now the Odesa region is still among the regions with the biggest number of shutdowns.”
The renewed Russian attacks on Odesa’s electricity grid took place on Friday night, as Iranian-made drones hit two energy facilities, leaving 1.5 million people without power, the Reuters news agency reported.
It cited Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for Odesa's regional administration, as saying that power for the residents would be restored "in the coming days," while “complete restoration of the networks may take two to three months.”
The official also said that an earlier statement by the regional administration, advising some people to consider evacuating, was under investigation by Ukraine's security services as "an element of the hybrid war" by Russia.
The statement, posted on Facebook, has since been deleted, news outlets reported.
"Not a single representative of the authorities in the region made any calls for the evacuation of the inhabitants of Odesa and the region," Bratchuk said, as quoted by Reuters on Sunday.
Zelensky on Sunday also held a telephone conversation with France’s President Emmanuel Macron on their 10-step formula for peace, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The Ukrainian president later tweeted: “Synchronized positions on the eve of G7 online summit and Ukraine support conference in Paris. Discussed the implementation of our ten-step peace formula, cooperation on defense and energy stability of Ukraine.”
Zelensky also spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
He told the nation: "We discussed the possibilities of expanding our Black Sea export corridor. I thanked for supporting our 'Grain from Ukraine' humanitarian initiative. We agreed on some important joint steps for the near future."
Later on Sunday, Zelensky was due to speak with US President Joe Biden.
Ukraine strikes bases in Russian-occupied Melitopol, Crimea
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces attacked a barracks in the Russian-occupied southeastern city of Melitopol on Saturday night, killing around 200 Russians, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported, citing preliminary estimates by local officials.
The exiled mayor of the city, Ivan Fedorov, said on the Telegram social messaging app that the strike hit a former church that the Russian occupiers had turned into “a gathering place,” Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported on its website.
It added that the attack targeted a former resort and hotel complex known as Hunter’s Halt, situated next to a church and used as a barracks.
The strike was reportedly made with US-supplied HIMARS rockets and was one of a number of attacks carried out overnight on Russian bases, with explosions also heard in the cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol, among other sites in the Crimea peninsula, The Guardian reported.
Moreover, Ukrainian forces also struck a hotel in the town of Kadiivka, in the Russian-occupied eastern Luhansk region, the PAP news agency reported.
It cited regional governor Serhei Haidai as saying the hotel had been a stronghold of the Wagner group of mercenaries that fight for the Kremlin.
Ukraine will resume counteroffensive ‘when ground is firmer’: defence minister
Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that the country’s troops would intensify their counteroffensive against the Russian army when the ground freezes, making it easier for heavy vehicles to pass over.
Reznikov made the remark at a news conference on Sunday, the Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Meeting the media alongside his Swedish counterpart Pål Jonson in Odesa, Reznikov said, as quoted by Ukrainska Pravda: "Weather conditions, a transition from a dry autumn to a not yet frosty winter … We have watched rain and very difficult conditions for offensives from any side. Because the ground is wet, and wheeled vehicles almost cannot pass over it."
He added: “I believe this decrease in activity is related to weather conditions. But the armed forces of Ukraine are not thinking of stopping. Therefore, using the moment, when the ground is firmer, I am convinced that we will resume our counter offensives and the campaign to liberate our land."
Reznikov said Ukraine’s plan "is very simple; it is the liberation of all temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to 1991 levels, when Ukraine’s borders were internationally recognised," as cited by Ukrainska Pravda.
He added that the Russian army was targeting civilians in order to compel Ukraine to start negotiating on Russia’s terms, but stressed the Kremlin’s strategy would not succeed.
"This war is a war of resources, and they are also running out of these resources," Reznikov stated, as quoted by Ukrainska Pravda.
Monday is day 292 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: pravda.com.ua, president.gov.ua, PAP, guardian.co.uk