Russia’s strategy of targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – so far cutting power to millions of civilians – will not work, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said.
Vladimir Putin has focused his “fire and ire” on Ukraine’s civilian population, bombing more than one-third of Ukraine’s water and electricity supply, Mr Blinken said.
“Heat, water, electricity ... these are President Putin’s new targets. He’s hitting them hard. This brutalisation of Ukraine’s people is barbaric,” he told a news conference in Bucharest following a two-day Nato summit where he represented Washington.
Mr Blinken accused Mr Putin of trying to divide western allies with his campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure, which has demanded additional support and will further drive up energy prices.
“This strategy has not, and will not, work. We will continue to prove him wrong. That’s what I heard loudly and clearly from every country here in Bucharest,” Mr Blinken added.
Meanwhile, The Independent heard accounts of people being tortured and raped by Russian soldiers, on visits to recently liberated Ukrainian towns.
