A huge barrage of Russian strikes rained down on critical infrastructure in Kyiv and other key Ukrainian cities on Monday, knocking out water and power supplies across the country just a day after Moscow accused Ukraine of attacking its Black Sea Fleet.
The onslaught left hundreds of thousands of residential apartments in Ukraine’s capital without light, heat or running water, its mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Kharkiv, in the north east, was also plunged into darknesss after two strikes hit critical infrastructure facilities and the subway shut down, and there were also emergency blackouts in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk.
Russia‘s defence ministry said its forces carried out “strikes with long-range, high-precision air- and sea-based weapons against the military command and energy systems of Ukraine.”
President Vladimir Putin said the strikes were in part a response to alleged drone attacks on his Black Sea fleet.He indicated more action could follow.“That’s not all we could have done,” he told a televised news conference.
Rights groups such as Amnesty International say attacksd on critical infrastructure are possible war crimes.
Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister said, that Moscow was targeting its energy facilities as it lost ground at the frontlines of the war.
“Another batch of Russian missiles hits Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. Instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia fights civilians,” Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister said.
“Don’t justify these attacks by calling them a ‘response’. Russia does this because it still has the missiles and the will to kill Ukrainians.”
The attack comes two days after Russia accused Ukraine of a drone attack against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet off the coast of the annexed Crimean peninsula.
Ukraine has denied the attack, saying Russia mishandled its own weapons.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said missiles had hit energy infrastructure in Kyiv and other cities, causing electricity and water outages.
“Russia is not interested in peace talks, nor in global food security. Putin’s only goal is death and destruction,” he said.
Engineers are working to restore power following damage to an energy facility that powers about 350,000 apartments in Kyiv, the capital’s mayor said on Monday.
“Specialists, together with other emergency services and authorities are doing everything possible to stabilise the situation as soon as possible,” he wrote on the Telegraph messaging app.
Russia launched the biggest air strikes since the start of the war on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities this month in what it said was a response to an attack on its bridge to Crimea.
Russian forces have shifted their focus of strikes to power systems and the distribution grid, damaging Ukraine’s electricity system.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has said 30 per cent of the country’s power stations have been destroyed since Russia launches the wave of targeted strikes earlier this month.
Additional reporting by agencies
