Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed on Twitter yesterday that Russia’s attacks in recent days have destroyed 30% of Ukraine’s power plants, with authorities counting more than a thousand places without power. “The situation is critical across the country. It is imperative that everyone prepare for power, water and heating shortages,” warned state television Kyrylo Tymoshenko, number two in the president’s office.
The attacks began on the 10th, in response to the explosion that damaged part of the Crimean Bridge and blamed Moscow on Ukrainian secret services. Yesterday, early morning attacks hit Kiev, Kharkov, Mykolayv, Dnipro and Zhytomyr. According to the authorities, more than 190 attacks with rockets, kamikaze drones (they are single-use, with an explosive charge that detonates on impact) and artillery in 16 regions of Ukraine and in the capital have killed more than 70 people. caused and reached 380 buildings, including “critical infrastructure”, leaving 1,162 sites without electricity.
Zelensky calls the repeated attacks on energy infrastructure “another type of Russian terrorist attack”, arguing that “there is no room to negotiate with the Putin regime”.. His adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, claimed that “Russia hates modern civilization and wants to create a zone of cold, hunger and barbarity”, and therefore “is systematically trying to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure by attacking cities and civilians”. This official says the solution includes more air defense assets, which Kiev has asked its Western allies for.
Iranian missiles?
Iran has promised to provide Russia with ground-launched missiles to hit targets on the ground (surface-to-ground missiles), as well as more drones, four Iranian officials told Reuters.
The kamikaze drones Moscow used in Monday’s attacks in Kiev are Iranian-made, experts say, although the Kremlin said yesterday it was not aware they were being used by its forces in Ukraine. “Russian equipment with a Russian name is used,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Tehran, on the other hand, has refused to export weapons to either side.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba, is not only calling for European Union sanctions against Iran for supplying arms to Russia, but also defending the severing of relations between Kiev and Tehran. The US has already warned that it could take action against companies or countries working with Iran’s drone program.
Yesterday, Moscow announced a victory on the ground, with the capture of the city of Gorobiivka, in the Kharkiv region. It is the first victory since the Ukrainian counter-attack in September, which allowed Kiev’s troops to recapture areas they had lost to the Russians.
“Terrorist regime”
The Estonian parliament yesterday condemned Moscow’s annexations of Ukrainian territories and classified Russia as a “terrorist regime”. The statement was approved by 88 of the 101 deputies, ten were absent from the vote and three voted to abstain.
Estonian parliament ‘declares Russia a terrorist regime and the Russian Federation a country supporting terrorism’. Zelensky has invoked such statements. In August, it was the Latvian parliament that called Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism” and accused Moscow of “genocide”.
Source: DN
