Russia hits infrastructure targets throughout Ukraine, targets energy and water By Reuters

By Max Hunder and Jonathan Landay

KYIV/MYKOLAIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – Russian missiles crashed into infrastructure targets throughout Ukraine on Tuesday morning as Moscow stepped up what regarded like a deliberate marketing campaign to destroy electrical energy and water services earlier than winter.

The main of Zhytomyr, a metropolis of 263,000 folks, mentioned the assaults had knocked out the ability and water provide, and two explosions rocked an power facility within the southeastern metropolis of Dnipro, a metropolis of practically 1 million, inflicting critical injury, in line with Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a Ukrainian presidential aide.

Within the southern Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv, a missile slammed into an house constructing killing at the very least one man, a Reuters witness mentioned, and blasts have been heard and smoke seen rising in Kyiv, the capital.

There have been additionally reviews of energy services being focused within the metropolis of Kharkiv, a metropolis with a pre-war inhabitants of 1.43 million folks, near the Russian border.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of terrorising and killing civilians with the air assaults, which got here a day after drone strikes on Kyiv and different cities killed at the very least 4 folks.

“Ukraine is below fireplace by the occupiers. They proceed to do what they do finest – terrorise and kill civilians,” Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“The terrorist state is not going to change something for itself with such actions. It’ll solely verify its harmful and murderous essence, for which it’s going to actually be held to account.”

There was no speedy phrase on how many individuals had been killed within the strikes.

Russia earlier this month named Basic Sergei Suvorikin as total commander of what Moscow calls its “particular operation” in Ukraine. Suvorikin served in Syria and Chechnya the place Russian forces pounded cities in a scorched earth coverage towards its foes.

Nicknamed “Basic Armageddon” by the Russian media due to his alleged toughness, his appointment was adopted by the most important wave of missile strikes towards Ukraine since Moscow invaded on Feb. 24.

Russia carried out its newest strikes on Tuesday after the US warned it might maintain Moscow accountable for any struggle crimes.

Moscow denies focusing on civilians. Its defence ministry has mentioned it’s finishing up assaults on army targets and power infrastructure throughout Ukraine utilizing high-precision weapons.

Within the port metropolis of Mykolaiv, a Reuters witness mentioned that they had heard three explosions within the early hours of Tuesday.

A missile had utterly destroyed one wing of a constructing within the downtown space, leaving a large crater, they mentioned. A fireplace crew was seen pulling the useless physique of a person from the rubble.

“In Mykolaiv, the enemy destroyed a residential constructing with S-300 missiles. An individual died. There was additionally a strike on the flower market, the chestnut park. I ponder what the Russian terrorists have been preventing towards at these completely peaceable services?” Zelenskiy mentioned.

The Russian strikes adopted advances by Ukrainian forces within the east and south and got here after an Oct. 8 blast on a bridge linking mainland Russia to Crimea – the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre instructed reporters on Monday that the White Home “strongly condemns Russia’s missile strikes” and spoke of Putin’s “brutality”.

Putin despatched tens of 1000’s of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what he known as a “particular operation” to root out what it calls harmful nationalists.

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance, with the assistance of arms equipped by the US and its allies, who’ve additionally imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to drive it to withdraw.