Besieged Kyiv goes dark
>>KYIV: Ukraine was working yesterday to restore electricity to hospitals, heating systems and other critical infrastructure in major cities after Russia’s latest wave of attacks on the power grid prompted accusations of “war crimes”.
The volley of missiles unleashed on Friday pitched multiple cities into darkness, cutting water and heat and forcing people to endure freezing cold.
In the capital, where the mayor said only a third of residents had heat or water, people wrapped in winter coats crammed into underground metro stations after air raid sirens rang out in the morning.
“I woke up, I saw a rocket in the sky,” Kyiv resident 25-year-old Lada Korovai said. “I saw it and understood that I have to go to the tube.”
Ukraine’s national energy provider said its system had lost more than half its capacity after strikes targeted “backbone networks and generation facilities”.
Ukrenergo warned the extent of the damage in the north, south and centre of the country meant it could take longer to restore supplies than after previous hits.
“Priority will be given to critical infrastructure: hospitals, water supply facilities, heat supply facilities, sewage treatment plants,” Ukrenergo said in a statement Friday.
By evening, second city Kharkiv had restored power to just 55% of residents, with plans to have a fully operational grid by midnight.
After a series of embarrassing battlefield defeats, Russia has since October pursued an aerial onslaught against what Moscow says are military-linked facilities.
But France and the European Union said the suffering inflicted on freezing civilians constitutes war crimes, with the bloc’s foreign policy chief calling the bombings “barbaric”.
“These cruel, inhumane attacks aim to increase human suffering and deprive Ukrainian people,” Josep Borrell said.
Russia fired 74 missiles — mainly cruise missiles — on Friday, 60 of which were shot down by anti-aircraft defence, according to the Ukrainian army.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes left the capital Kyiv and 14 regions affected by power and water cuts.
He called for “increased pressure” from the West on the Kremlin and for more air defence systems.
“Our power engineers and repair crews have already started working during the air alert and are doing everything possible to restore generation and supply. It takes time. But it will be [done],” Mr Zelensky said.
Moscow has said the strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure are a response to an explosion on the Kerch bridge connecting the Russian mainland to the Crimean peninsula.
Ukrainian military leaders have warned Moscow is preparing for a major winter offensive, including a fresh attempt to take Kyiv.