Russia rained down volleys of missiles across Ukraine on Wednesday, hitting infrastructure in the capital, Kyiv, and other cities as Moscow pursued its campaign to knock out Ukraine’s power and heat ahead of the looming winter.
Authorities reported power outages across the country as well as in neighbouring Moldova, where officials said at least half the country lost power.
Multiple regions reported attacks in quick succession, suggesting a barrage of strikes. In several regions, authorities reported strikes on critical infrastructure. The Kyiv city administration said that three people were dead and three wounded in the capital after a Russian strike hit a two-storey building.
The entire Kyiv region is now without electricity, according to Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba, and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said water supplies were knocked out for the entire city.
Zelenskyy promises ‘invincibility centres’
Power units of three Ukrainian nuclear power plants were switched off after the strikes, but nuclear power operator Energoatom said radiation levels at all nuclear sites in the country were normal.
State-owned grid operator Ukrenergo said the repair work would begin when the air raid sirens stop.
Since October, Russia has repeatedly targeted electric power and heating infrastructure. Moscow says the aim is to reduce Ukraine’s ability to fight; Kyiv says the intentional strikes on civilian infrastructure constitute a war crime.
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In an overnight video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced special “invincibility centres” would be set up around Ukraine to provide electricity, heat, water, internet, mobile phone connections and a pharmacy, free of charge and around the clock.
Russian attacks have knocked out power for long periods for up to 10 million consumers at a time.
“If massive Russian strikes happen again and it’s clear power will not be restored for hours, the ‘invincibility centres’ will go into action with all key services,” Zelenskyy said.
Russia may be running out of drones: U.K.
Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities follow a series of battlefield setbacks that have included a retreat from the southern city of Kherson to the east bank of the Dnipro River that bisects the country.
Russia has been striking Ukraine with expensive long-range cruise missiles and with cheap Iranian-made drones. Britain’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday there had been no public reports of Russia using Iranian one-way attack drones since around Nov. 17, which it said was a sign Moscow might be running out of them, and would try to get more.
Battles raged in the east, where Russia is pressing an offensive along a stretch of front line west of the city of Donetsk, which has been held by its proxies since 2014. The Donetsk region was the scene of fierce attacks and constant shelling over the past 24 hours, Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian authorities said an overnight rocket attack destroyed a hospital maternity ward in southern Ukraine, killing a two-day-old baby.
Following the overnight strike in Vilniansk, close to the city of Zaporizhzhia, the baby’s mother and a doctor were pulled alive from the rubble.
The region’s governor said the rockets were Russian.
The strike adds to the gruesome toll suffered by hospitals and other medical facilities in the Russian invasion, which will enter its 10th month this week. Medical centres have been in the firing line from the outset, including a March 9 airstrike that destroyed a maternity hospital in the now-occupied port city of Mariupol.
‘Why kill children?’
First Lady Olena Zelenska wrote on Twitter that a two-day-old boy died in the strike and expressed her condolences. “Horrible pain. We will never forget and never forgive,” she said.
Medical workers’ efforts have been complicated by the succession of Russian attacks in recent weeks on Ukraine’s infrastructure. The situation is even worse in the southern city of Kherson, from which Russia retreated nearly two weeks ago after months of occupation, cutting power and water lines.
Many doctors in the city are working in the dark, unable to use elevators to transport patients to surgery and operating with headlamps, cell phones and flashlights. In some hospitals, key equipment no longer works.
“Breathing machines don’t work, X-ray machines don’t work … There is only one portable ultrasound machine and we carry it constantly,” said Volodymyr Malishchuk, the head of surgery at a children’s hospital in the city.
On Tuesday, after strikes on Kherson seriously wounded 13-year-old Artur Voblikov, a team of health staff carefully maneouvred the sedated boy up six flights of a narrow staircase to an operating room to amputate his left arm.
Picking up a piece of shrapnel found in a 14-year-old boy’s stomach, Malishchuk said children are arriving with severe head injuries and ruptured internal organs.
Artur’s mother, Natalia Voblikova, sat in the dark hospital with her daughter, waiting for his surgery to end.
“You can’t even call [Russians] animals, because animals take care of their own,” said Voblikova, wiping tears from her eyes. “But the children…. Why kill children?”
Oil price cap
In Strasbourg, France, the European Parliament overwhelmingly backed a resolution labelling Russia a state sponsor of terrorism for its actions in Ukraine.
The nonbinding but symbolically significant resolution passed in a 494-58 vote, with 48 abstentions. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy welcomed the vote.
“I propose designating the European Parliament as a sponsor of idiocy,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova retorted on Telegram.
Meanwhile, European officials were debating the details of a global price cap on Russian oil, a U.S.-backed proposal taken up by the G7 and set to come into effect on Dec. 5 with the intent of curbing Moscow’s ability to fund the war.
While Western sanctions already mean Russian seaborne crude is now mostly sold in Asia, the trade still mainly involves European shippers and insurers who would be barred from transporting cargo above the capped price. Ambassadors from the 27 EU countries were discussing the G7 proposal with the aim of reaching a common position by the end of the day.
A European diplomat said the price cap being discussed would be in the $65-70 US per barrel range. Russia’s Urals crude blend already trades at around $70 a barrel, a steep discount to other benchmarks, as a result of sanctions.
The World Health Organization warned this week that hundreds of Ukrainian hospitals and health-care facilities lacked fuel, water and electricity.
“Ukraine’s health system is facing its darkest days in the war so far. Having endured more than 700 attacks, it is now also a victim of the energy crisis,” Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, said in a statement after visiting Ukraine.
