Queues for water as Putin targets civilian lifelines
SWATHES of Kyiv were plunged into darkness and left without water after “another barbaric attack” by Vladimir Putin’s forces.
Russia used strategic bombers to launch massive strikes against the capital and the nation’s energy infrastructure, Ukrainian ministers said.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said residents should “stock up on water from the nearest pump rooms and points of sale” amid fears of further Russian bombardments.
Retaliation
Moscow’s military has been targeting Ukrainian civil infrastructure in recent weeks using expensive longrange missiles and cheap Iranianmade drones.
Strikes yesterday left 80 per cent of Kyiv without vital lifelines.
It came as it was claimed that nearly 1,000 Russian soldiers were killed in one day in Ukraine – marking the deadliest day for Putin since his troops invaded eight months ago.
Ukrainian forces have made gains across Russian-occupied areas, with fighting intensifying in the east and the southern city of Kherson.
Some 950 Kremlin soldiers were killed on Sunday, pushing the Russian death toll up to at least 71,200, Kyiv said.
Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said Russia used strategic bombers to carry out “massive” retaliation strikes.
It was also revealed air defence systems sent by Germany were used to shoot down missiles. Ukraine’s
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said 18 targets were hit in 10 regions.
They included hydroelectric power plants in Kyiv, Kremenchuk, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia and Cherkasy. There were partial blackouts in some areas and emergency shutdowns in others to reduce the load on the system.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that “instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia fights civilians”.
Meanwhile, Moscow says it has completed its “partial mobilisation” to boost its ailing military. The Kremlin appeared to stop short of reimposing a grain blockade however, with a large convoy of ships carrying supplies from Odesa yesterday.
It pulled out of a UN-brokered deal in retaliation for a drone attack on warships at the Black Sea port of Sevastopol. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly accused Putin of “exacting vengeance” on Ukrainian civilians and low-income nations around the world for his “military failures”.