Two people died when a missile hit a residential building in the central city of Kryvyi Rih
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday denounced the Kremlin’s “blind terrorism” after Russia’s massive bombing of Ukraine, speaking of war crimes.
“These brutal and inhumane attacks aim to exacerbate human suffering and deprive the Ukrainian population, but also hospitals, emergency services and other essential services, of electricity and heat. They are barbaric and constitute war crimes. All those responsible must be held held accountable”. Borrell said in a statement.
“The European Union and its partners are stepping up their efforts to provide the emergency assistance Ukrainians need to restore and maintain electricity and heating,” added Josep Borrell.
The European Union has approved new sanctions against Moscow, in particular banning the export of drone engines to Russia or third countries that could supply them.
As Russia fired a total of 74 missiles on Friday, most of them cruise missiles, the air defenses shot down 60, according to the Ukrainian military.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev and 14 regions were hit by power or water outages, and called for “more pressure” from the West on the Kremlin and to give his country more air defense systems.
Three people were killed in a Russian raid that targeted a residential building in Kryvyi Rih (south), according to the governor of the region.
For their part, Russian authorities who control the Luhansk region (east) accused Ukrainian forces of launching artillery shelling on two towns on Friday morning, killing 11 people and wounding 17 others.
The attacks escalated this week as Russia targeted civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
Electricity has been completely cut off in Kharkiv in the north and many other regions.
A presidential official said emergency power outages were happening across the country. Network operator Okrinergo said energy consumption had dropped by half since Friday’s attacks.
Alarm bells have been ringing across Ukraine and Air Force spokesman Yury Ignat said 60 missiles were fired in all.
Kyiv city officials said some 40 rockets were fired at the capital alone, in one of the biggest attacks since the Russian invasion began on February 24. They added that 37 planes were shot down by the air defences.
Authorities said a missile struck a residential building in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, killing at least two people and wounding eight others.
In the southern city of Kherson, prosecutors announced another death in an attack that set fire to an apartment building before dawn on Friday. Two people were killed in shelling in central Kherson on Thursday.
image copyright Kherson Prosecutor’s Office
Friday’s attack on Kherson was the third in two days on the southern city, a month after Russian forces withdrew
The attacks cut off electricity in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, as well as the Sumy region near the northern border with Russia, and the central cities of Poltava and Kremenchuk. Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov spoke of “colossal destruction of infrastructure”.
Ukraine has accused Russia of “weaponizing winter” by targeting key facilities as temperatures plummet. Defense Ministry adviser Uri Sack told the BBC that the emergency services were working to restore supplies but that the situation was “still difficult”.
Russia has launched more than 1,000 Iranian-made missiles and attack drones since mid-October, although most of them have been intercepted by air defenses.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on Thursday that further attacks on energy facilities could “lead to a further serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation and lead to further displacements”.
Prime Minister Dennis Shmyhal said this week that Russian attacks damaged “all thermal and hydroelectric plants”, causing widespread power outages and cutting off heating and water supplies.
In some areas, electricity is only available for a few hours a day.
Reports say 15 rockets were fired at Zaporizhia in the south, while Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said several areas of the city were hit. He added that damage to energy infrastructure has affected water supplies in the capital and that the city’s subway lines are currently suspended.
The head of the Kiev regional administration, Oleksiy Kuleba, said Russia was “massively attacking Ukraine”.
Authorities say Russia is responding to military setbacks on the battlefield after Ukraine’s recent successes in recapturing occupied territories, including Kherson a month ago.
“They have to compensate for this. They are trying to create conditions to force Ukraine to negotiate. This will not happen. It will not work,” Yuri Sak told the BBC.
He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to control all of Ukraine and that the message was that the war was far from over.
It’s unclear why Russia has stepped up its attacks this week, but US President Joe Biden is said to be finalizing plans to send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine, following months of requests from Kiev.
Ukraine’s air defenses have achieved great success in limiting casualties from the Russian airstrike, and authorities in Kiev said all 13 drones launched against Kiev on Wednesday were successfully shot down.
Russia’s war in Ukraine is losing steam, almost 10 months after the start of the invasion. But Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has warned there is growing evidence Russia is planning a new large-scale offensive, perhaps as early as next year.
“The Russians are preparing about 200,000 new soldiers. I have no doubt they will try again in Kiev,” the commander of the armed forces, General Valery Zaluzny, told The Economist.
