Russian military opened fire on infrastructure in at least six Ukrainian territories on Monday
Russian military opened fire on infrastructure in at least six Ukrainian territories on Monday
President Vladimir Putin said Russian Attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure And the decision to halt participation in the Black Sea grain export program was a response to a drone attack on Moscow’s fleet in Crimea that it blamed on Ukraine.
Mr Putin told a news conference on Monday that Ukrainian drones used the same sea corridors that grain ships did under a UN-brokered deal.
Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack and denied using the security corridor of the grain program for military purposes. The United Nations said no grain ships were using the Black Sea route on Saturday after Russia said its ships were attacked in Crimea.
Meanwhile, on the 250th day of the war that has been on the ground since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine On February 24, Russian missiles rained across the country. There was an explosion in Kyiv, causing black smoke to spread in the sky.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement on Facebook that Russian forces opened fire on infrastructure in at least six Ukrainian territories on Monday.
“That’s not all we could do,” Mr Putin said at a televised news conference, hinting that further action could be taken.
Ukrainian officials said power infrastructure, including a hydroelectric dam, had been hit, cutting off power, heat and water supplies.
The governor of the northeast Kharkiv region, Oleh Sinyubov, said on Telegram that about 140,000 residents were without electricity after the attacks, including about 50,000 residents of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
Ukraine’s military said it had shot down 44 of 50 Russian missiles. But the attacks left 80% of Kyiv without running water, officials said. Ukrainian police said 13 people were injured in the latest attacks.
For the past three weeks, Russia has attacked Ukrainian civilian infrastructure using expensive long-range missiles and cheap Iranian-made “suicide drones” that fly and detonate a target.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denis Shyamal said Monday missile and drone strikes on 10 Ukrainian territories hit 18 targets, mostly energy infrastructure.
Wheat prices jump
Moscow announced the suspension of its role in the grain program after accusing Ukraine of using aerial and sea drones to target ships in the Gulf of Sevastopol. This suggested that one of the drones may have been launched from a civilian ship chartered to export food from Ukrainian ports.
“Ukraine must guarantee that there will be no threat to civilian ships or Russian supply ships,” Mr Putin said on Monday, noting that Russia is responsible for ensuring security under the terms of the grain deal.
Ukrainian and UN officials said 12 ships carrying grain left Ukrainian ports on Monday, despite Moscow’s move. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would continue to implement a program brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July aimed at quelling global hunger.
“We understand what we offer to the world. We provide sustainability to the food production market,” Mr. Zelensky said at a news conference. He has previously said that Moscow is “blackmailing the world out of hunger”. Russia denies that it has a purpose.
The US State Department said on Monday that uncertainty over the Black Sea grain deal has pushed up food prices and that Russia’s suspension of participation is having an “immediate, detrimental” impact on global food security.
Global wheat prices rose more than 5% on Monday morning after news that Moscow was pulling out of the deal.
Nevertheless, the continued flow of grain exports from Ukrainian ports suggested that a new world food crisis has been averted for now.
Both Ukraine and Russia are the world’s largest food exporters. For three months, the UN-backed deal guaranteed Ukrainian exports could access markets, lifting a Russian de facto blockade.
The ships that sailed on Monday included a ship hired by the United Nations World Food Program to bring 40,000 tonnes of grain to drought-hit Africa.
Also on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said Moscow had completed the partial military mobilization announced by Mr. Putin in September and that no further call-up notices would be issued.
On September 21, Putin announced Russia’s first mobilization since World War II, one of a series of incremental measures in response to Ukrainian gains on the battlefield.
Defense Minister Shoigu said at the time that some 300,000 additional personnel would be drafted. But mobilization has proceeded chaotically and thousands have fled Russia to avoid being drafted.