KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian cruise missile barrage and drone movements hit critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities early Monday, cutting off water and power in retaliation for what Moscow called a Ukrainian attack on its Black Sea fleet. .
Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine’s key force plants and infrastructure as the war enters its ninth month, forcing nonstop force cuts.
“The Kremlin is taking revenge on the army against other non-violent people who find themselves without electricity or heating before winter,” said the governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksii Kuleba.
Russian President Vladimir Putin showed Monday’s bombing was intended to retaliate for what he called a failure of Saturday’s Ukrainian air and submarine attack on Russia’s Black Sea fleet founded in Sevastopol on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula.
“In part, yes. But that’s not all we could have done,” Putin said of the retaliation at a news convention at Sochi’s Black Sea hotel.
He claimed that Ukrainian drones had traveled to their targets through a globally agreed domain aimed at ensuring the protection of ships exporting grain from Ukrainian ports. Putin said, justifying his country’s suspension of its participation in the deal allowing exports.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces carried out “high-precision, long-range air and sea weapons attacks against the command and power systems of Ukraine’s army. “
“All the movements were achieved. All designated objectives were met,” the ministry said.
Meanwhile, 12 ships carrying grain departed Ukrainian ports on Monday despite Russian threats to reimpose a blockade that threatened to spark world hunger, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry said. traffic along the protection room explained through the Black Sea Initiative has been suspended” due to allegations that Ukraine used the domain to attack Russian forces.
In Monday’s ground attacks, Ukraine’s air force said it shot down more than 50 cruise missiles introduced through Russia.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Russian missiles and drones hit 10 Ukrainian regions and broke 18 sites, most commonly electrical installations. Hundreds of communities were left without power, he said on Facebook. Thirteen other people were injured, Ukrainian police leader Ihor Klymenko said.
Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital as citizens prepared for work. Text messages sent by emergency warned of the risk of a missile attack, and the sirens of the airstrikes sounded for 3 hours.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said 80 percent of consumers in the city’s other 3 million people were left without water due to damage to a forced plant. 350,000 to 270,000. To force consumption, the Kyivan government extended the periods between metro trains and replaced electric trolleybuses and trams with buses, Klitschko said. Metro service resumed Monday night.
Across Kyiv, many other people covered themselves, for more than an hour, pumping water by hand from wells to fill plastic bottles and cans.
“It’s shameful,” said a 34-year-old resident, who agreed to give only his first name, Denis, when he went to fetch water. “But the fact is, it’s not a challenge. The challenge is that we have a war. “
Smoke rose from the left bank of the Dnieper in Kyiv, from a missile attack or when Ukrainian forces shot it down.
Associated Press hounds saw a crater and debris from where a missile fell on the outskirts of Kiev examined. The missiles flew fast and low and looked like bomb blasts, witnesses said.
“It’s scary,” said Oleksandr Ryabtsev, 28, who was on his way to work. “I raised my head and he flew over there. You may only see that cruise missile. I didn’t even go to work. I went home. “
Prime Minister Shmyhal said that in the regions of Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv, emergency cuts are being made.
In the eastern city of Kharkiv, two movements affected critical infrastructure, according to authorities, and the metro stopped working.
Critical infrastructure sites were also affected in the Cherkasy region, southeast of kyiv. In the Kirovohrad region of central Ukraine, it hit an electrical installation. low, according to regional governor Serhii Borzov.
Electricity was cut off in parts of Ukraine’s railway network, Ukrainian Railways reported.
Ukraine denied its duty over Saturday’s attack on the Black Sea fleet, saying Russia mishandled its own weapons, but Moscow said it retaliated by ending its participation in the grain deal negotiated through the UN and Turkey.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Monday suggested to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, in a phone call to “reconsider” Moscow’s suspension of its participation in the grains deal, which allowed the export of more than nine million tons of grain from Ukraine. In a statement, Akar hailed the agreement as an example of how unrest can be resolved through “cooperation and dialogue” and argued that it is an “entirely humanitarian activity” that is detached from the conflict.
At the United Nations in New York, Martin Griffiths, who heads the U. N. in charge of facilitating the deal, told the Security Council that Monday’s movements and inspections were carried out as emergency measures.
UN industry leader Rebeca Grynspan warned the council that the uncertainty surrounding the deal and high global fertilizer costs could turn the current food affordability crisis into “tomorrow’s availability crisis and a crisis of enormous proportions. “July and September and Ukraine’s wheat exports more than quadruple, pushing down food costs.
Monday’s moves were the third time this month that Russia has introduced such primary attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. On Oct. 10, an attack rocked the war-torn country after an explosion on the Kerch bridge linking Crimea to mainland Russia, an incident Moscow blamed on Kyiv. .
“Russian movements in Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure are terrorism and an attempt to freeze millions of civilians,” tweeted Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry. “They need to leave other people without light, water or sewage, in winter, in the cold. “
“Instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia is fighting civilians,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. “Don’t justify those attacks as a ‘response. ‘ Russia is doing it, it still has the missiles and the will to kill. “the Ukrainians. “
One of the Russian missiles shot down across Ukraine landed in a Moldovan border town, causing injuries but no casualties. Damaged windows.
Another Russian attack hit two tugboats carrying grain barges in the Black Sea port of Ochakiv at the mouth of the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region, killing at least two members of the team, Ukraine’s Unian news firm reported, bringing up a Ukrainian army officer.
In another development, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Monday that it had completed a partial mobilization of troops, ostensibly fulfilling a promise to finalize the order for 300,000 troops. However, some human rights lawyers warned that only Putin can end the appeal by signing a decree. The Russian president told reporters he would consult lawyers to determine whether such a decree is necessary, adding that 41,000 of the reservists have been deployed to fight in Ukraine, adding 259,000 in training.
ONGOING AUDITS
A small number of U. S. Army forces were in the U. S. military. The U. S. military in Ukraine has recently begun conducting on-site inspections of Ukrainian troops and is accounting for the Western-supplied weapons they receive, a senior U. S. defense official said Monday. U. S. to Pentagon journalists.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide an update from the military, did not say where inspections are taking place or how far from the war fronts U. S. troops are being closed. front line,” however, they said they went where security situations allowed.
The official said several inspections had been conducted, and that they were being carried out through the U. S. defense attaché. The U. S. Department of Defense Cooperation teamUntil now, the official said, Ukrainian officials have been transparent about weapons distribution and inspections. .
The effort is part of a broader U. S. campaign, announced last week by the Disintegration of the State, so that weapons provided to Ukraine do not end up in the hands of Russian troops, their proxies or other extremist groups.
Earlier this year, the U. S. The U. S. military said a small number of U. S. troops had returned to the Kyivan embassy to provide security and other tasks. U. S. President Joe Biden has ruled out any combat role for U. S. forces in Ukraine.
U. S. officials have faced persistent questions from some members of Congress about how the administration accounts for the billions of dollars worth of weapons that were shipped to Ukraine over the past year. He fears he can only warn potential smugglers of possible evasion techniques.
The State Department’s plan includes short-, medium- and long-term projects to strengthen U. S. and Ukrainian surveillance of transferred weapons, namely more complex missile systems and anti-aircraft devices, as well as to improve Ukraine’s aviation and border security to combat misuse and prevent imaginable arms trafficking.
The State Department said that, so far, the intense demand for weapons on Ukraine’s battlefield appears to be hampering the proliferation of the black market for small arms, man-portable air defense systems and anti-tank weapons such as Javelins. Major challenge to the seizure of weapons through Russian forces as they develop on the ground, and warned that Moscow may use them to expand countermeasures or conduct false flag operations.
Information for this article provided by Andrew Meldrum, Sam Mednick, Hanna Arhirova, Suzan Fraser, Karel Janicek, Sabina Niksic and Lolita C. Baldor of The Associated Press and Marc Santora and Matt Stevens of The New York Times.