UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has denounced “an unacceptable escalation of the war” in Ukraine, Monday, October 10, after massive Russian strikes on several Ukrainian cities, which left at least 14 dead and 97 injured across the country, according to a latest report from the presidency and the Ukrainian emergency services. French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, lamented a “profound change of nature” of the conflict. Franceinfo takes stock of the day’s news on the frontline of the war in Ukraine.
A series of strikes affecting several cities
According to Ukrainian authorities, 83 missiles were fired by Russian forces on Monday, of which about half were intercepted. Energy infrastructure but also civilian targets were affected.
Half a dozen explosions were heard in kyiv, the capital, especially in the city center, including pulverizing a children’s playground in a park. The mayor of the town, Vitali Klitschko, called on residents to “stay in the shelters”. The regions of Lviv and Rivne in western Ukraine, Dnipro in the center and Zaporijjia in the south were also targeted, as was thehe Kharkiv and Donetsk regions in the east.
According to the Ukrainian police, “29 essential infrastructures, four buildings and 35 private residential buildings” were damaged, as well as a “capital school”. “They are trying to destroy us all, to wipe us off the face of the earth”reacted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday morning, calling on his Western allies for a response “hard” in the face of Moscow’s actions.
Several regions without electricity
The Russian missiles hit several energy infrastructures, leading to power and hot water cuts in several regions. the Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency Situations announced only five regions, Lviv and TernopilKharkiv and Sumi and Poltava, had no “no electricity supply” following the bombings. “In the rest of Ukraine, the electricity supply is partially disrupted”he added on Telegram.
Vladimir Putin confirms “massive strikes”
Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Monday “massive strikes” carried out “against the energy, military and communication infrastructure of Ukraine“, “on the proposal of the Ministry of Defense and in accordance with the plan of the staff”.
The leader justified his bombings “massive” denouncing the attack “terrorist” against the bridge linking Russia to Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014. Russia attributes responsibility for this attack to kyiv.
The EU evokes “war crimes”
The European Union considered that these attacks, some of which hit civilian infrastructure, amounted to “war crimes” whose managers should “realize”. NATO condemned “horrible and indiscriminate attacks” against civilian infrastructure, and pledged its support to kyiv “as long as it takes”according to the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg.
In the United States, Joe Biden has “firmly condemned” these strikes, proof according to the leader of the “absolute brutality” of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The American president assured that these attacks would only strengthen American support for Ukraine, and that Washington would continue “to impose a heavy cost on Russia for its aggression”.
Germany, for its part, has announced that it will urgently deliver a long-promised first anti-aircraft defense system.
Belarus deploys troops alongside Russia
These strikes were not the only sign of an escalation in the conflict on Monday. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accused Ukraine of preparing an attack on his country, and announced that Minsk would deploy a Russian-Belarusian group as a result, without specifying where.
“Guided rocket fire has taken place in recent hours from Belarusian territory towards Ukraine. The strikes from Belarusian soil towards kyiv are a first since the end of March”, pointed out to AFP Pierre Grasser, French researcher associated with the Sirice center in Paris. Iranian drones have also been launched from Belarus, according to kyiv.