Kiev, Dec 16 (IANS): The entire central Ukrainian city of Kherson was left without electricity after heavy Russian shelling targeted critical infrastructure and also resulting in two deaths, authorities said.

Kherson, one of the first major cities to fall to Russia since the early days of the invasion, was recaptured by Ukraine last month, dealing a major setback to Moscow.

According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the city was shelled more than 16 times on Thursday and Kherson's Governor Yaroslav Yanushevich confirmed that the city is completely without power following the shelling in Kherson's port district.

"At the first opportunity, the power industry will begin to restore power grids," Yanushevich said in a social media post.

The Governor said that Thursday's shelling was for the second day in a row.

He said that a total of six persons were injured with varying degrees of severity.

Of the two victims, one was a member of the rapid response unit of an international organisation and "she was just helping people" during the time of the attack, Yanushevich said in the post.

According to Ukrainian officials, the shells reportedly landed 100m from the city's main administration building, a day after the building itself was badly damaged.

Besides Kherson, explosions also went off in Ukraine's second biggest city of Kharkiv, while attacks also continued in the eastern Donbas region.