Ukraine war refugees asked not to return this winter

"The networks will not cope," said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. "You see what Russia is doing.", Qazet.az reports.

"We need to survive the winter," she added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian air strikes had destroyed more than a third of the country's energy sector.

Ms Vereshchuk said that although she would like Ukrainians to return in the spring, it was important to refrain from returning for now because "the situation will only get worse".