Russian strikes target infrastructure as Ukrainians line up for water
Russian strikes left many in the Ukrainian capital without electricity or water. President Zelensky said they shot down most of Russia’s 55 missiles.
Cody Godwin, Associated Press
While much of the fighting in Ukraine is concentrated in the east and south, the capital of Kyiv and its environs in the north central region are under a different kind of attack – one that relies on pain and disruption as weapons.
Under pressure from the Russian attack, which has destroyed 40% of the country’s energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s electricity operator has announced rolling blackouts for six other regions, including Kyiv and Kharkiv. Scheduled emergency stops are also expected.
“We are doing everything to avoid this,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko told state media. “But let’s be clear, our enemies are doing everything to keep the city without heat, without electricity, without water supply, so we all die. And how the future of the country and the future of each of us depends on how we are prepared for different scenarios.”
Power outages caused by Russian drone and missile strikes have affected 16 provinces and forced Kyiv authorities to consider mass evacuations. He plans to install about 1,000 heating shelters but noted that this is not enough for the city’s 3 million people. Kyiv’s average temperature in winter ranges from the low 20s to the low 30s.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his overnight video address on Sunday that some 4.5 million people had lost power, adding that “we must face this winter and come out even stronger in the spring.”
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Recent Developments:
►The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was reconnected to Ukraine’s power grid on Sunday, three days after fighting in the region knocked it offline, forcing the use of emergency diesel generators to run key cooling systems.
►Russian authorities continued to evacuate the occupied southern city of Kherson, sending phone messages Sunday warning residents to move to the east bank in anticipation of a major battle with the Ukrainian army. Russian forces, though less visible, “have dug in there quite energetically,” said Natalia Humenyuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern forces.
►The 15,000 remaining residents of the eastern city of Bakhmut, who have been living under constant shelling for months in recent weeks, are without water or electricity, local media reported.
Iran has backed away from its denial that it supplied drones to Russia, questioning other claims that qualify access.
“We gave Russia a limited number of drones months before the Ukraine war,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told reporters in Tehran on Saturday.
Amirabdollahian added that Iran had no knowledge of Russia attacking Ukraine with drones: “If it proves to us that Russia used Iranian drones in the war against Ukraine, we will not be indifferent to this matter.”
It brags about providing drones to the world’s top powers in the face of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Since last month, Russia has engaged in a campaign to destroy Ukrainian power plants and other civilian targets, relying on detonating drones that can cost up to 50 times less than each cruise missile. Russia has rebranded the drones but there is evidence that they are Iranian-made Shaheds.
Both Russia and Iran, which insist on remaining neutral in the war, have denied any shipment of unmanned aerial vehicles. The US and its Western allies on the UN Security Council have called on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to investigate whether Iranian drones were used to attack civilians in Ukraine.
“The whole world will know that the Iranian regime is helping Russia to extend this war,” Zelensky said on Sunday.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who warned the Kremlin that using nuclear weapons in Ukraine would have “disastrous consequences” for Russia, held secret talks with President Vladimir Putin’s top aides in an effort to prevent an escalation of the war. is expanding, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
The purpose of the talks in recent months was not to negotiate a peace deal but to maintain open lines of communication and reduce the risk of non-conventional weapons in the war, the paper said, citing US and allied officials.
Sullivan visited Kyiv on Friday and expressed the US’s “unwavering and unwavering” support for Ukraine, even after Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Russia may oust all its military district commanders before the end of the year.
The most recent sidekick was Colonel General Alexander Lapin, who was replaced by Major General Alexander Linkov as head of the Central Military District. According to the British Ministry of Defence.
The ministry pointed out that the commanders of Russia’s Eastern, Southern and Western military districts have already been replaced since the invasion of Ukraine began in February.
“These dismissals represent a pattern of indictment against Russian military commanders for failing to achieve Russian objectives on the battlefield,” the ministry said. “This is partly an attempt to deflect and deflect blame from Russia’s senior leadership.” ‘
Contributed by: Associated Press
