Ukraine suffered Friday morning new Russian missile strikes that caused water cuts in the capital kyiv and power across the country, Moscow showing itself determined to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, condemned this new “example of the blind terror of the Kremlin”, “cruel and inhuman attacks” against the population which “constitute war crimes”.
The EU has also approved new sanctions targeting Moscow which notably prohibit the export of drone engines to Russia or to third countries able to supply them.
A total of 74 missiles, mostly cruise missiles, were fired by Russia on Friday, 60 of which were shot down by air defense, according to Ukraine’s military.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said kyiv and 14 regions had been affected by power or water cuts. He called for Western “increasing pressure” on the Kremlin and delivering more air defense systems to Ukraine.
In the capital, the mayor, Vitali Klitchko, specified that only a third of the inhabitants had water and heating, and 40% electricity.
This morning I woke up, I saw a missile in the sky, and I wasn’t surprised. I saw it and knew I had to go on the subway.
Three people died following a Russian strike which hit a residential building in Kryvyi Rig (south), according to the regional governor.
For their part, the pro-Russian authorities of the Luhansk region, in the East, accused the Ukrainian forces of artillery fire on two localities which left 11 dead and 17 injured on Friday.
Having suffered a series of military setbacks this fall, Russia has opted since October for a tactic of massive strikes aimed at destroying Ukraine’s electrical networks and transformers, plunging millions of civilians into cold and darkness in the midst of winter.
With this new wave of Russian bombardments on Friday, “it may take longer than before to restore electricity”, alerted the national electricity operator Ukrenergo on Facebook.
” I will Survive “
In kyiv, bundled up in their coats, sitting on the ground or on the steps of escalators, some residents spent several hours sheltered in the metro.
“This morning, I woke up, I saw a missile in the sky, and I was not surprised. I saw it and I knew I had to go on the subway,” said Lada Korovaï, a 25-year-old actress.
Elsewhere, whole sections of the country were once again without power, such as the regions of Kirovograd and Poltava (center).
In the second city of the country, Kharkiv (northeast), the authorities announced in the evening that they had restored power to 55%.
In the city of Bakhmout, which Moscow is tirelessly trying to conquer, a semi-trailer truck came to deliver some 200 wood-burning stoves, which were then distributed to residents by volunteers, AFP noted.
A few dozen residents came to collect the precious stoves, in a city without electricity, water or gas.
Oleksandra, 85, came to get medicine. “I will survive the winter, I will walk more to warm myself up, I heard about a heating point, but I think it is not something well organized,” she told AFP. .
“I prefer to think that everything I hear now [les détonations], our army is shooting. I just want to think like that, and it makes me feel good,” she adds.
Not far away, in Kramatorsk, the power was cut at the end of the afternoon and the population no longer had access to the telephone network, AFP noted.
Putin-Lukashenko Summit
The Russian and Belarusian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, will meet in Minsk on Monday for a summit intended to further strengthen their alliance.
Belarus, Russia’s only ally in this war, loaned its territory to allow the Russian assault on kyiv at the start of the invasion on February 24.
According to Mr. Lukashenko, the summit on Monday will be “above all [consacré] to the economic sphere”, but the two leaders will also speak of “the politico-military situation around [leur] country “.
In an interview published on Thursday, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zalouzhny, said he was convinced that Russia would attempt a new attack on kyiv in the first months of 2023.
For his part, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned that Moscow was preparing for a long war against Ukraine, to which the Alliance’s allies must continue to supply weapons until the President Putin understands that he “cannot win on the battlefield”.
“We should not underestimate Russia. It is preparing for a long war, Stoltenberg told AFP. We see that they are mobilizing more forces, that they are ready to take a lot of losses as well, that they are trying to get access to more weapons and ammunition. »