After Russian attacks, half of Kiev remains without electricity

After nine months of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin met for the first time with women whose children are fighting in Ukraine, assuring those who had lost sons that he and Russia's elite "share this pain".

And in the southern region of Kherson, the governor there said Russian shelling had forced the evacuation of patients from hospitals in the city of Kherson.

The systematic and targeted Russian attacks over recent weeks have brought Ukraine's energy infrastructure to its knees as winter approaches, spurring fears of a health crisis and a further exodus.

Utility workers were still working Friday to reconnect the heating and water as temperatures in Kyiv approached freezing, as UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited to announce a new aid package.

"We have to endure this winter –- a winter that everyone will remember," Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.

"We have to do everything so that we remember it -- not because of what it threatened us with -- but because of what we managed to do to protect ourselves from this threat."

Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmygal told a government meeting that electricity providers were now providing 70 percent cover.

"Almost all Ukraine's critical infrastructure has been reconnected," he said.

But, he added: "On average, from 200,000 to 400,000 consumers are cut off power in each region at certain hours."

Cars queued outside petrol stations in Kyiv on Friday to stock up, AFP journalists said. Mobile networks in some areas were still experiencing disruption.