Kyiv/Moscow/Washington/Beijing: Massive explosions shook the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine this morning in apparent Russian revenge strikes after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared an explosion on the bridge linking Crimea to Russia to be a terrorist attack.
Putin today claimed that the Ukrainian special services were the “organisers and perpetrators” of the attack. He also accused Ukraine’s special services of having “carried out three terrorist acts against Russia’s Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, repeatedly blowing up the plant’s high-voltage lines. The third such terrorist attack damaged three of those lines at once. The damage was repaired in the shortest possible time and there were no serious consequences.
The press service of the Kyiv City Military Administration, meanwhile, stated that in rocket attacks on Kyiv and the region today. 5 people were killed and 51 citizens were injured. Local critical infrastructure objects, residential buildings, and private autos were damaged. Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine, said that as of 11:00 am (local time), 11 important infrastructure facilities in 8 regions and Kyiv had been damaged. There was no electricity in some regions.
The United States of America’s Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba about the “Kremlin’s horrific strikes against Ukraine today, including waves of missiles that hit the streets of several Ukrainian cities during rush hour”. The Secretary commended Ukraine for not allowing President Putin to break Ukraine’s spirit and reaffirmed the USA’s resolve to support Ukraine. He noted that the United States will continue to provide vital economic, humanitarian, and security assistance so Ukraine can defend itself and take care of its people. The Secretary reaffirmed the steadfast support of the United States for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He also extended his deepest sympathies to the Foreign Minister for the people of Ukraine who have lost loved ones today. The United States stands with Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden stated alongside his allies and partners, he will continue to impose costs on Russia for its aggression, hold Putin and Russia accountable for its atrocities and war crimes, and provide the support necessary for Ukrainian forces to defend their country and their freedom. “We again call on Russia to end this unprovoked aggression immediately and remove its troops from Ukraine,” he said in Washington.
Today morning Ukrainian air defence forces, too, shot down 9 Shahed-136 kamikaze drones in different regions of Ukraine, Yurii Ihnat, Spokesman for the Air Force Command of UA Armed Forces
Ukraine’s Information from Regional Military Administrations claimed that in the last 24 hours, till 17:14 hours, Russian troops shelled the Zaporizhzhia, the Mykolaiv, the Kyiv, the Lviv, the Khmelnytskyi, the Dnipropetrovsk, the Zhytomyr, the Ternopil, the Sumy, the Kharkiv, the Odesa, the Vinnytsia, the Chernihiv, the Kherson, the Donetsk, the Luhansk, the Ivano-Frankivsk, the Poltava, and the Kirovohradskyi regions.
28 people were killed. 133 citizens were injured, including 1 child [conservative estimates, real numbers are likely higher], they stated.
In recent days, there has been frequent shelling in an industrial area between the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and Enerhodar. There have also been missile strikes further away. Today around 16:20 hours, Anatolii Kurtiev, Secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council, stated that in the fresh Russian shelling on the Zaporizhzhia region today, 3 people were killed, and 7 citizens were injured, including 1 child. “The rescue operation is ongoing,” Kurtiev said.
Yesterday, Ukrainian engineers restored external power to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) a day after the facility lost the connection to its last remaining operating power line due to shelling, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
After the repair work was successfully completed, the 750 kilovolts (kV) line was reconnected to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in the evening, enabling it to start switching off the emergency diesel generators that had provided it with backup electricity since the connection was cut early on Saturday.
“The plant’s six reactors are in a cold shutdown but still require power for cooling and other essential nuclear safety and security functions,” the IAEA stated.
“These military attacks in Zaporizhzhya and its vicinity increase the risk of a nuclear accident, if they hit the plant’s external power lines or make it more difficult to deliver vital supplies of fuel and equipment,” IAEA Director General Grossi said.
The Director General has proposed the establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the ZNPP, engaging in high-level talks with Ukraine and the Russian Federation aimed at agreeing and implementing such a zone as soon as possible.
Further highlighting the potential risks to the plant, a landmine exploded yesterday afternoon outside the plant’s perimeter fence, the team of IAEA experts was informed at the site, the latest in a series of such blasts over the past few weeks.
Today Russia also shelled the Dnipropetrovsk region thus killing 4 people and injuring 19 citizens. Valentyn Reznichenko, Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, said local residential buildings, critical infrastructure objects, and public transport stops were damaged.
At around 15:38 hours, Ukraine’s Operational Command “South” claimed that today so far Ukrainian air defence forces shot down 14 Russian missiles in the Mykolaiv region and 3 Russian missiles in the Odesa region. General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed till 15:38 hours, Russian troops fired 84 missiles at Ukraine. Ukrainian air defence forces shot down 43 missiles.
Russia yesterday said it had already established the route of the lorry which exploded on the bridge linking Russia to Crimea. It drove through Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia, and the Krasnodar Territory. “In addition, we have also identified the carriers – the persons who took part in arranging the movements of that lorry. The FSS field agents helped to identify suspects from among those who could have arranged the terrorist act and those who are active within the Russian Federation,” Chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin, said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Beijing today reiterated its offer to play a “constructive part in de-escalation efforts”.
– global bihari bureau
