After recent Russian retreats on the battlefield, Moscow has intensified air and missile strikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.
The week-long Russian aerial assault has left millions of Ukrainians without basic amenities. “Tens of millions of Ukrainian citizens were left without power after Russian missile strikes damaged critical infrastructure in areas affecting areas such as Kyiv, Kherson and Lviv,” Sky News UK reported Friday.
The Associated Press reported the devastation caused by the Russian strikes:
A salvo of missiles struck the recently liberated city of Kherson for the second day Friday in a marked escalation of attacks since Russia withdrew from the city two weeks ago following an eight-month occupation. It comes as Russia has stepped up bombardment of Ukraine’s power grid and other critical civilian infrastructure in a bid to tighten the screw on Kyiv. Officials estimate that around 50% of Ukraine’s energy facilities have been damaged in the recent strikes. (…)Scores of people were injured in the strikes that hit residential and commercial buildings, lighting some on fire, blowing ash into the air and littering the streets with shattered glass. The attacks wrought destruction on some residential neighborhoods not previously hit in the war that has just entered its tenth month.
Despite the Ukrainian government’s efforts to restore the damage to the power grid, an estimated six million households are currently without electricity in Kyiv and other cities.
“Ukrainian authorities on Friday gradually restored power, aided by the reconnection of the country’s four nuclear plants, but millions of people were still in the dark after the most devastating Russian air strikes of the war,” the Reuters reported Saturday.
Germany’s DW TV reported the nationwide impact of Russian strikes
Fifteen regions in Ukraine were struggling with water supply problems after repeated Russian strikes against civilian and energy infrastructure. (…)In the capital, Kyiv, half of the households still had no electricity on Friday. However, one-third of the city’s households were heated again, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.The water supply in Kyiv had also been fully restored. In the rest of the country, the picture looked bleaker, 15 regions were struggling with water supply problems President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a nightly address on Thursday evening.
According to British intelligence, Russia is repurposing soviet-era nuclear missiles to use them as rockets to hit Ukrainian targets. Massive barrages on Ukrainian targets have reportedly dwindled Russia’s missile stockpiles.
Last month, the Russian military began deploying Iranian drones to intensify its strikes. “Moscow turns to drones as Western official says ‘barrage of precision weapons’ on Ukraine is becoming ‘unsustainable’,” the UK newspaper Telegraph reported in late October.
The TV channel France24 reported the UK intel assessment:
Russia is likely removing nuclear warheads from ageing nuclear cruise missiles and firing unarmed munitions at Ukraine, Britain’s military intelligence said on Saturday.This comes amid widespread power outages through Ukraine as Russia attacks the country’s infrastructure and bombards Kherson in what appears to be retaliation for Ukrainian military success in the region. (…)”Whatever Russia’s intent, this improvisation highlights the level of depletion in Russia’s stock of long range missiles”, the defence ministry said in its daily intelligence update on Twitter.
These refitted communist-era missiles may not have the striking power of a regular cruise missile but “could be used by Moscow as decoys to divert Ukrainian air defenses,” Newsweek reported citing UK defense officials.
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