Ukraine Energy Supply under Persistent Russian Attacks, Heavy Fighting in East

KYIV: As Moscow’s occupying forces appeared to be getting more active, Russian missiles and shells struck Ukrainian positions in a number of regions, and heavy fighting continued in the eastern city of Donetsk.

According to a statement from the military, Russian missiles and drones have been systematically attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure from the northern capital of Kyiv to the central city of Dnipro and the southern city of Odesa.

According to the report, two cruise missiles, five air-launched missiles, and five Shahed-136 drones made in Iran were all shot down by Ukrainian forces the previous day. Reports from the battlefield could not be confirmed by Reuters.

After Russia earlier this week unleashed what Ukraine claimed was the heaviest bombardment of the civilian infrastructure of the war, which started in late February when Russia invaded its neighbor, authorities in Kyiv said they were working to restore power nationwide as the city saw its first snowfall of the winter.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated in a video address on Thursday night that about 10 million people lacked electricity. Authorities in some locations issued mandatory emergency blackout orders, he claimed.

Long, chilly winters with mean temperatures several degrees below zero and lows as low as -20 Celsius are typical for Ukraine. A U.N. agency said a serious humanitarian crisis loomed, with millions facing “constant power cuts” this winter.

In the meantime, a Dutch court found two men from Russia and one from Ukraine guilty of murder for their roles in the 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine. Since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, battles between Russian-backed forces and the Ukrainian military have been taking place in eastern provinces.

“Punishment for all Russian atrocities – both present and past – will be unavoidable,” Zelenskiy responded to the court’s ruling via Twitter.

Moscow called the ruling “scandalous”.

DONETSK FIGHTING

The majority of the fighting in Russia’s nine-month conflict with Ukraine has taken place in the Donetsk region. Troops withdrawn from Kherson city in the south, which Ukraine reclaimed last week, were added to Russian forces. The Ukrainian military reported that Russian forces fired artillery on the towns of Bakhmut and nearby Soledar, among other places.

According to the statement, Russian fire also struck Balakliya, which Ukraine reclaimed in September, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, and Nikopol, a city located on the opposite bank of the Kakhovka reservoir from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Unable to independently confirm the reports, Reuters.

Ukraine Energy Supply under Persistent Russian Attacks, Heavy Fighting in East

Russia has been urged once more by the board of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to stop all activities at nuclear power plants in Ukraine and to leave Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, right away.

GRAINS DEAL EXTENDED

On Thursday, a deal reached in July by the UN and Turkey to assist Ukraine in exporting its agricultural products from Black Sea ports was extended for another four months, despite Russia’s claims that its own demands have not yet been fully met.

Zelenskiy of Ukraine reported that since August 1 more than 450 ships have transported 11 million tonnes of grain and other food products from his country around the globe.

“Millions of people, mostly in African nations, have been kept from starving… food prices are significantly lower than they would be without our food exports,” In his video speech, Zelenskiy stated.

UNCERTAINTY IN KHERSON

People in Kherson celebrated the Russian forces’ withdrawal last week after a Ukrainian counteroffensive, but it also raised questions.

The main square on Thursday was a chaotic scene of lines for humanitarian aid and patriotic displays.

A man strung out well-known Ukrainian rock songs on one end, while a man at the other end played the Ukrainian anthem on an accordion while onlookers sang along. Armed with flags slung around their shoulders, young children and teenagers asked a soldier to sign them.

Several hundred people waited for humanitarian aid while standing in line to exchange their Russian SIM cards for Ukrainian ones in their mobile phones, though they were unsure of what they might get.

“We don’t know what to anticipate, but we’re okay. The forces are assembling on that riverbank, so nothing is final yet. They are congregating on this side. We are in the middle,” said 48-year-old unemployed builder Ihor

The Dnipro River divides the Kherson region in two, and on Thursday, Ukrainian and Russian gunners exchanged shellfire across it. The thumps echoed as a freezing rain doused the city.

After Russian forces left, investigators in the area found 63 bodies with signs of torture, according to a report from Ukraine’s interior minister.

Russia denies that its military targets civilians or has carried out atrocities. There have been mass graveyards discovered in other regions that Russian troops had previously occupied, some of which contained victims of torture whose bodies were buried there.

Reference: https://www.todayonline.com/world/ukraine-energy-supply-under-persistent-russian-attacks-heavy-fighting-east-2050016