Ukraine worked on Saturday to restore electricity after new Russian missile attacks that caused power cuts across the country, denounced as war crimes by the European Union.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, condemned this new “example of the Kremlin’s blind terror”, “cruel and inhuman attacks” against the population that “constitute war crimes”.
74 missiles fired
The EU has also approved new sanctions against Moscow that prohibit, in particular, the export of drone engines to Russia or to third countries that can supply them. For its part, France condemned the Russian airstrikes on Friday.
“These acts constitute war crimes and in no way weaken France’s determination to support Ukraine and fight impunity,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Russia fired a total of 74 missiles, mostly cruise missiles, on Friday, 60 of which were shot down by air defense, according to Ukraine’s military.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv and fourteen regions had been affected by power or water outages. He called for the West to “increase the pressure” on the Kremlin and deliver more air defense systems to Ukraine. Throughout the country, interventions are being carried out to restore electricity.
“Our engineers and repair teams have already started work during the airborne alert and are doing everything possible to restore power generation and supply. It takes time. But it will be done,” the Ukrainian president said. .
More than half of Kyiv residents without electricity
In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitchko said that only a third of the inhabitants had running water and heating, and 40% had electricity.
Three people died after a Russian attack hit a residential building in Kryvyi Rig (south), according to the regional governor.
For their part, pro-Russian authorities in the eastern Luhansk region accused Ukrainian forces of firing artillery on two towns, killing 11 and wounding 17 on Friday.
Faced with a series of military setbacks this fall, Russia has since October opted for a tactic of mass attacks aimed at destroying Ukraine’s power grids and transformers, plunging millions of civilians into cold and darkness in the dead of winter.
With this new wave of Russian bombardments on Friday, “it could take longer than before to restore electricity,” warned the national electricity operator Ukrenergo on Facebook, which specified that “electricity (will) be supplied as a priority to essential infrastructure: hospitals, water services, heating installations, sewage treatment plants”.
Source: BFM TV
