With the heaviest rocket attacks in weeks, Russia paralyzed large parts of the Ukrainian power supply on Friday.
(Photo: dpa)
Brussels/Kyiv According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainians’ readiness to defend themselves remains unbroken even after the most recent rocket attacks. However, the latest wave of Russian missiles once again caused power, district heating and water to fail in large parts of the country. The European Union passed a new package of sanctions against Moscow on Friday.
Zelensky: “Rocket worshipers” in Moscow have false hopes
“Whatever the rocket worshipers in Moscow hope for, it will not change the balance of power in this war,” Zelensky said in his daily video address on Friday evening. Russia still has enough missiles for further massive attacks. “But we have enough determination and confidence to throw our own punches after those punches.”
Zelensky highlighted the effective work of the Ukrainian air defense, which shot down most of the incoming cruise missiles and rockets in the morning. “But unfortunately there were also goals,” he said. “Terrorists need such a mass of rocket attacks that at least part of their ‘products’ will reach their intended targets.” brought.
According to their own statements, the Ukrainian air defense system intercepted almost 80 percent of the 76 projectiles in the Russian missile strike. Of the 72 cruise missiles and four guided missiles, 60 were shot down. According to the Kyiv military administration, the main blow was aimed at the capital. Of 40 rockets, 37 were intercepted over the city of three million.
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The Ukrainian government accuses Russia of “terror” because of these attacks on the country’s energy supply – aiming to plunge the land into darkness and cold.
EU foreign policy chief calls Russian missile attacks war crimes
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described Russia’s new massive rocket attacks on Ukraine as barbaric war crimes. “These cruel, inhuman attacks aim to increase human suffering,” he said on Friday.
People sit in a subway station used as an air raid shelter during a missile attack.
(Photo: dpa)
The population, but also hospitals, emergency services and other essential services should lose their supply of electricity, heat and water. “These bombings constitute war crimes and are barbaric,” Borrell said.
Repair of water supply and district heating in Kyiv is progressing
After the recent Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital, technicians in Kyiv restored part of the district heating and water supply. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Ukrainian television that about a third of the city’s residents were supplied with district heating and water.
The heating and water in the rest of the city should be working again by Saturday morning. At the same time, around 40 percent of the residents have electricity. “We understand that the main thing for us is the resumption of work on the subway,” emphasized the 51-year-old early Friday evening.
Prime Minister: Ukraine still needs thousands of generators
With ongoing Russian attacks on the power grid and the resulting power outages, Ukraine still needs around 17,000 industrial or larger power generators this winter.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:
Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal gave this number at a government meeting on Friday, as reported by the Unian state agency. “So far, small and medium-sized companies have already imported around 500,000 smaller generators,” he said. “But to get through the winter, we still need around 17,000 larger or industrial generator systems.”
New Russia sanctions in force
The ninth EU package of sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine is in force. As can be seen from the legal texts published in the EU Official Journal on Friday evening, the EU has imposed asset freezes and entry bans on a further 141 people and 49 institutions. Among them are several deputy prime ministers, ministers and companies from the defense and automotive industries.
Zelensky welcomed the new sanctions against Moscow. This package is the ninth, “but obviously not the last,” he said in the evening, a few hours after the most recent Russian missile attack on his country’s energy grid. “Because it’s obvious that the pressure needs to be increased.”
Eleven dead in Ukrainian shelling of Luhansk
At least 11 people were killed in an artillery shelling by Ukrainian forces on the Russian-controlled region of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, according to local authorities.
“But we have enough determination and confidence to throw our own punches after those punches.”
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire)
Another 20 people were injured in the attack on the village of Lantratowka, and the fate of another 20 people is uncertain, the Russian state agency TASS reported, citing regional authorities. The neighboring Donetsk region also came under Ukrainian artillery fire on Friday. One person died and five other people were injured.
The breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbass, which are supported by Moscow, declared their independence from Kyiv years ago. In the meantime, Russia has integrated the regions together with the other occupied parts of Ukraine into its national territory in violation of international law. Ukraine wants to liberate these areas and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
More: Don’t miss any developments in the Ukraine war – everything new in our news blog