Russia has launched new “large-scale” missile strikes on Ukraine’s civilian energy sites, causing power outages across the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his usual video address Oct. 22.
Moscow says its forces have continued to launch attacks on Ukraine’s energy and military infrastructure over the past 24 hours.
Ukrainian authorities say nearly 1.5 million homes across the country have been left without power.
But Zelenskiy said most Russian missiles and drones were shot down, reiterating an earlier statement by the Ukrainian military that it shot down 18 of 33 cruise missiles launched from the air and sea on October 22.
“Of course, we don’t yet have the technical capability to shoot down 100% of Russian missiles and drones. I am sure that gradually we will get there, with the help of our partners,” Zelenskiy said.
Russia has intensified its strikes against Ukraine’s power plants, water systems and other key infrastructure over the past two weeks.
Areas targeted by the latest strikes include Khmelnytskiy and Lutsk in the west of the country and the central city of Uman.
Khmelnytskiy, which was home to some 275,000 people before the war, was left without power shortly after local media reported several large explosions on October 22, regional officials said.
Uman, which had a population of some 100,000 before the war, was also plunged into darkness after a rocket hit a nearby power station.
In Lutsk, a city of 215,000, power was partially cut off after Russian missiles slammed into local energy facilities, according to local officials.
Authorities in Khmelnytskiy and Lutsk urged residents to store water, “in case it also runs out”.
Airstrikes and power outages were also reported in Odessa in the south, the central city of Dnipro and Zaporizhzhya in the southeast of the country.
The national energy company, Ukrenerho, continued to urge all Ukrainians to save energy.
In his October 22 address, Zelenskiy said authorities had managed to restore power to several areas where electricity had been cut following the attack.
“The main target of terrorists is energy,” he said.
In the capital, Kyiv, and surrounding areas, power cuts went into effect on October 22 in response to reduced power supply.
Ukrainian officials said around 40% of the country’s power supply system had been severely damaged since Russia stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.
Zelenskiy had previously said that 30% of Ukrainian power plants had been destroyed by Russian strikes since October 10.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has warned that the intensification of missile and drone strikes will create a new wave of refugees from Ukraine.
“If there is no more electricity, no more heating, no more water in Ukraine, it may trigger a new migration tsunami,” he told the October 23 edition of the German newspaper Frankfurter. Allgemeine Zeitung.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on October 23 that it had destroyed a major ammunition depot in Ukraine’s central Cherkasy region which the ministry said stored more than 100,000 tonnes of aviation fuel for the army. Ukrainian air.
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The ministry also said in a daily briefing that Russian forces had repelled Ukrainian counter-offensives along front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine.
Claims cannot be independently verified.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow feared Ukraine was using a “dirty bomb” in the conflict, without providing evidence to support his suggestion.
Shoigu made the comment during a telephone conversation with his French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, on October 23, according to Russian news agencies.
Shoigu reportedly said the situation in Ukraine was rapidly deteriorating and trending towards “uncontrolled escalation”.
By RFE/RL
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