Russia hits infrastructure targets across Ukraine, targets power and water

KYIV/MYKOLAIV, Ukraine, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Russian missiles crashed into infrastructure targets across 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 power 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, based on Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a Ukrainian presidential aide.

In the southern Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv, a missile slammed into an house constructing killing no less than one man, a Reuters witness mentioned, and blasts have been heard and smoke seen rising in Kyiv, the capital.

There have been additionally experiences of power 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 no less than 4 folks.

“Ukraine is under fire by the occupiers. They continue to do what they do best – terrorise and kill civilians,” Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“The terrorist state will not change anything for itself with such actions. It will only confirm its destructive and murderous essence, for which it will certainly be held to account.”

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

Russia earlier this month named General Sergei Suvorikin as general commander of what Moscow calls its “special operation” in Ukraine. Suvorikin served in Syria and Chechnya the place Russian forces pounded cities in a scorched earth coverage in opposition to its foes.

Nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian media due to his alleged toughness, his appointment was adopted by the largest wave of missile strikes in opposition to Ukraine since Moscow invaded on Feb. 24.

Russia carried out its newest strikes on Tuesday after the United States warned it will maintain Moscow accountable for any battle crimes.

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

In the port metropolis of Mykolaiv, a Reuters witness mentioned they’d heard three explosions within the early hours of Tuesday.

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

“In Mykolaiv, the enemy destroyed a residential building with S-300 missiles. A person died. There was also a strike at the flower market, the chestnut park. I wonder what the Russian terrorists were fighting against at these absolutely peaceful facilities?” 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 advised reporters on Monday that the White House “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 “special operation” to root out what it calls harmful nationalists.

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

Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Philippa Fletcher

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.