© Reuters. A view shows a burning thermal power plant being hit by a Russian missile, during Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine September 11, 2022. REUTERS / Gleb Garnish
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By Pavel Polityuk and Tom Balmforth
KYIV/KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -Ukraine accuses the Russian military of attacking civilian infrastructure in response to a weekend quick attack by Ukrainian troops that forced Russia to abandon its main fortress in the region. Kharkiv.
Ukrainian officials said the targets of the retaliatory strike included water facilities and a thermal power plant in Kharkiv, and caused widespread power outages.
“Without military facilities, the goal is to deprive people of light and heat,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter (NYSE:) late Sunday.
Moscow denies its forces deliberately targeted civilians.
Zelenskiy described Ukraine’s offensive in the northeast as a potential breakthrough in the six-month war, and said winter could see more territory if Kyiv receives more powerful weapons. than.
In the worst defeat for Moscow’s forces since they were pushed back from the outskirts of the capital Kyiv in March, thousands of Russian soldiers left behind ammunition and equipment as they fled the city of Izium , which they used as a logistics hub.
Ukraine’s chief commander, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said the armed forces had regained control of more than 3,000 square kilometers (1,158 square miles) since the beginning of this month.
Ukraine’s interests are politically important to Zelenskiy as he seeks to keep Europe united behind Ukraine – providing arms and money – even as the energy crisis flares up in the summer. this winter after Russian gas supplies to European customers were cut.
‘COWARD RESPONSE’
Ukraine’s General Staff on Monday said self-defense forces had eliminated the enemy from more than 20 settlements in the past day.
Near the Russian border, in the village of Kozacha Lopan north of Kharkiv, Ukrainian soldiers and local officials were greeted with hugs and handshakes.
“Kozacha (Lopan) is and will be Ukraine,” District Mayor Vyacheslav Zadorenko said on a video he posted on Facebook (NASDAQ:) on Sunday. “There is no ‘Russian World’ at all. See with your own eyes where the ‘Russian World’ rags lie. Glory to Ukraine, glory to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
Moscow’s almost complete silence on the defeat – or any explanation for what happened in northeastern Ukraine – has caused considerable anger among some pro-war commentators. and Russian nationalists on social media. Some on Sunday called on President Vladimir Putin to make immediate changes to ensure eventual victory in the war.
Zelenskiy said late Sunday that the Russian attacks had caused a total blackout in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, and a partial blackout in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the President of Ukraine, said Kharkiv’s CHPP-5 power station – one of the largest in Ukraine – was attacked.
“A cowardly ‘reaction’ to their troops escaping from the battlefield,” he said on Twitter.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the vice president’s office, posted an image on Telegram of the burned electrical infrastructure but additional power was restored in some areas.
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the Financial Times that Ukraine needed to secure recaptured territory before a possible Russian counterattack on Ukraine’s long-running supply lines.
But he said the attack went much better than expected, describing it as a “snowball rolling down the hill”.
“It’s a sign that Russia can be defeated,” he said.
The British Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that fighting continued around Izium and that the city of Kupiansk, the sole rail hub supplying Russia’s frontline through northeastern Ukraine, had been recaptured by Ukrainian forces.
Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Luhansk People’s Republic, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Ukrainian forces were trying to infiltrate the eastern region claimed by Russia in early July.
“Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups have made relentless efforts to infiltrate the territory of the republic with the aim of provoking and intimidating our citizens,” he said, adding that they had “do not withdraw from positions held by the republic”.
NEUROLOGY DESCRIPTION
As the war entered its 200th day, Ukraine on Sunday shut down the last working reactor at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in anticipation of disaster as fighting broke out nearby.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of shelling around the Zaporizhzhia plant, which is held by Russia, which risks spreading radiation.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says a backup power line to the plant has been restored, providing the external power needed to perform the shutdown while preventing the risk of a failure.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Putin in a phone call on Sunday that the Russian military’s occupation of the factory was the reason its security was compromised, the French president said. According to a Kremlin statement, Mr. Putin blamed Ukrainian forces.
France on Sunday said it would sign an agreement with Romania to help increase Ukraine’s grain exports.
Ukraine’s grain exports have declined since the start of the war as the country’s Black Sea ports were closed, sending global food prices up and triggering fears of shortages.
“Tomorrow, I will sign an agreement with Romania that will allow Ukraine to export more grain … towards Europe and developing countries, especially in the Mediterranean (countries) in need of wages. real,” Transport Minister Clement Beaune told France Inter Radio.
The International Monetary Fund is also looking to provide emergency funding to countries facing food price shocks caused by war and will discuss measures at Monday’s executive board meeting, Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
