Airstrikes continue as first snow falls

Russian airstrikes targeted Ukraine’s energy facilities again yesterday as the first snow of the season fell in Kyiv, a harbinger of the hardship to come if Moscow’s missiles continue to take out power and gas plants as winter descends.

Separately, the United Nations announced the extension of a deal to ensure exports of grain and fertilisers from Ukraine that were disrupted by the war. The deal was set to expire soon, renewing fears of a global food crisis if exports were blocked.

Even as all sides agreed to extend the grain deal, air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine.

At least seven people were killed and more than two dozen others wounded in the drone and missile strikes, including one that hit a residential building, authorities said.

The Kremlin’s forces have suffered a series of setbacks on the ground, the latest being the loss of the southern city of Kherson. In the face of those defeats, Russia has increasingly resorted to aerial onslaughts aimed at energy infrastructure and other civilian targets in parts of Ukraine it doesn’t hold.

Earlier in the week Russia unleashed a nationwide barrage of more than 100 missiles and drones that knocked out power to 10 million people in Ukraine.