Australia

Ukrainian power, water supply under Russian attack

airstrike Reduced power and water supply to hundreds of thousands Ukrainian Part of what the country’s president called an expansion on Tuesday Russian campaign It drives the country into a dark place and makes peace negotiations impossible.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that almost a third of Ukraine’s power plants had been destroyed in the past week, resulting in “massive blackouts across the country.”

“There is no room for negotiations with the Putin regime,” he tweeted.

Smoke rises after Russian shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine / (AP)

The onset of winter has opened a new phase in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war with the growing use of so-called suicide drones that rob people of their water, electricity and heat and then swoop down on their targets. The bombing appears aimed at undermining the remarkable resilience Ukrainians have shown in the nearly eight months since Moscow was invaded.

Even far from the front lines, basic utility is no longer assured. Daily strikes reach far into the country, damaging major facilities, sometimes faster than they can be repaired.

The latest city to be stripped of power was Zhytomyr, a military base, industry and leafy boulevards located about 140 kilometers west of Kyiv. The mayor said the entire city of 250,000 people had lost power and water. Repairs quickly reconnected some homes, but local officials said he still had no electricity for 150,000 people hours after the morning strike.

Tatyana Alexeyevna mourns the coffin at the funeral of her son Colonel Oleksiy Terizhenko in Bucha near Kyiv, Ukraine. In March, Colonel Oleksiy was kidnapped by Russian soldiers from his home in Bucha, and six months later his body was found with marks of torture buried in a forest not far from the village. (AP)

Pablo Lavoshuk, a 33-year-old computer repairman from Zhytomyr, was outraged by the attack, which raised smoke into the sky. On his commute, he said, only small shops were open that could survive without electricity.

“I can only think of bad words,” he said. He added that he had stockpiled dehydrated food, warm clothes and batteries in his home to prepare for a “hard, dark winter.”

The city hospital has switched to backup power following two missile attacks on its energy facilities on Tuesday, Mayor Serheis Komlin said.

In Kyiv, the capital of Kyiv, two people were killed in missile strikes that damaged two power facilities, city officials said. According to the operator of the facility, the attack left 50,000 people without power for several hours.

The missile also severely damaged an energy facility in the south-central city of Dnipro. Some homes experienced power outages, but operators were not immediately aware of the number of power outages.

Russia, too, has mixed up its methods of attack.

Suicide drones set fire to infrastructure facilities in the southern Zaporizhia region, which is partially occupied by Russia, the regional governor said.

Air defense S-300 missiles, which Russia has repurposed as a ground-attack weapon as its stocks dwindle, were used to attack the southern city of Mykolaiv. A man’s body was found in the rubble of the building, the governor said.

In the eastern city of Kharkov, eight rockets fired across the nearby Russian border hit an industrial area, the regional governor said.

In Zhytomyr, school principal Irina Korodinska got the students back to their desks within half an hour after the air raid was over. She used her board to create math equations in class because her computer was out of power.

“Don’t fall apart,” she said. “There are regions that have suffered much more from war than ours.”

A wave of explosive-laden suicide drones also hit Kyiv on Monday, attacking energy facilities, setting them ablaze and causing parts of buildings to collapse.A drone crashed into a house, killing four people. .

Drones are in the air seconds before opening fire on buildings in Kyiv
Drones are in the air seconds before opening fire on buildings in Kyiv (AP)

Ukraine says Russia has obtained thousands of drones from Iran. The Iranian-made Shahed drones that hit targets in Kyiv have been widely used elsewhere in recent weeks.

An Associated Press photographer caught one of the Iranian drones on camera on Monday, and its triangular wings and pointed warhead were clearly visible, but the Kremlin declined to confirm its use.

In the past week alone, more than 100 Iranian-made self-destructing drones have smashed into power plants, sewage treatment plants, homes, bridges and other urban targets, according to Ukraine’s foreign ministry.

In a televised address Monday night, Zelensky said Russia is using drones because it has lost ground in the war.

“Russia has no chance on the battlefield and is trying to make up for its military defeats with fear,” he said. “Why this terror? To put pressure on us, Europe and the whole world.”

King meets Ukrainian refugees as drone attacks target civilians

Mr Zelensky’s tweet denying meeting with Putin was not the first time he said he would not negotiate with the Russian leader. Talks were held but broke down.The Kremlin says negotiations will only be possible if Ukraine meets Russia’s demands and accepts eminent domain of Ukrainian territory.Ukraine has flatly ruled out negotiations on these terms

Ukrainian power, water supply under Russian attack

Source link Ukrainian power, water supply under Russian attack

Back to top button