Deadly Russian shelling cuts off power to Ukraine’s Kherson city
KYIV—Russian forces bombarded Kherson on Thursday, killing two people and depriving the Ukrainian city of electricity as the European Union announced its latest slew of sanctions against Moscow and an 18-billion-euro aid package for Kyiv.
Moscow-allied officials in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, meanwhile, said they have come under some of the heaviest shelling in years from Ukrainian forces, leaving one person dead.
Despite Russia’s retreat from the southern port city in November, Kherson remains within reach of Moscow’s weaponry and under constant threat.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces had attacked Kherson 16 times on Thursday alone.
The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that one of its Ukrainian team members had been killed by the strikes and urged that humanitarian “personnel and property” be spared.
While winter temperatures plunge below freezing, the heavy shelling has left Kherson “completely without power”, according to regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych.
Much of Ukraine is struggling without heat or power after Moscow started targeting electricity and water systems nearly two months ago.
The UN human rights chief warned the campaign has inflicted “extreme hardship” on Ukrainians this winter, and also decried likely war crimes as he described his office’s documentation of civilians killed by Russian forces.
“Winter is coming, how can people survive?,” Svetlana, a resident of the capital, told AFP. “Lord, what do they want from us? They do not let Ukrainians live.” - Summary killings UN rights chief Volker Turk said his office has documented the executions and direct killings of 441 civilians across three regions of Ukraine from the start of Russia’s invasion on February 24 until April 6.
The “actual figures are likely to be considerably higher”, he said, adding “there are strong indications that the executions... may constitute the war crime of willful killing.”
Beyond that initial period, Turk said his team had continued to document gross rights violations affecting both civilians and combatants, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence.