Russia strikes Ukraine as grain deal extended

KYIV: Russia again unleashed missiles on Thursday against Ukrainian energy facilities, while its forces stepped up attacks in eastern Ukraine, reinforced by troops pulled from Kherson city in the south which Kyiv recaptured last week.

Separately, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres announced an extension of a four-month-old deal to ensure the safe delivery of export of grain, foodstuffs and fertilisers from Ukraine through the Black Sea just days before it was set to expire.

Explosions resounded in cities including the southern port of Odesa, the capital Kyiv, the central city of Dnipro and the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, where officials said two people were killed.

“Missiles are flying over Kyiv right now,” Interfax Ukraine news agency quoted Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal as saying at a conference.

“Now they are bombing our gas production, they are bombing our enterprises in Dnipro and Yuzhmash (missile factory).”

State energy company Naftogaz confirmed that gas production facilities in eastern Ukraine had been damaged or destroyed.

The United Nations’ humanitarian office (OCHA) warned of a serious humanitarian crisis in Ukraine this winter, with millions facing “constant power cuts”.

Officials reported heavy fighting in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which Russia claims to have annexed along with the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in September after holding what it calls “referendums” there condemned as illegal by Kyiv and the West.