KYIV: Missile attacks hit cities all over Ukraine on Tuesday and caused mass blackouts, days after Russia’s humiliating retreat in the south of the country and in the middle of the G20 summit.
The new bombardment, which officials say hit residential buildings in Kiev, intrudes on days when Ukrainians are jubilant over retaking the key city of Kiev. Kherson.
Lviv to the west and Kharkiv to the east were also hit on Tuesday, authorities said, but there was no immediate information on possible casualties.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced the attack after reports that air raid sirens were ringing across parts of Ukraine, saying at least half of Kyiv residents were without electricity.
“According to preliminary information, two residential buildings were attacked in the Pechersk district,” he said, adding that “several missiles were shot down… by air defense systems.
Presidential deputy chief of staff Kyrylo Tymoshenko said the missiles were fired by Russian forces.
He distributed footage of the apparent scene of the attacks, showing a fire at a five-story Soviet-era residential building.
“The danger has not passed. Stay in shelters,” he added in an online statement.
The attacks occurred after appointed Russian officials in New Kakhovka said it was leaving the key southern city, blaming artillery fire from Kiev forces, who were retaking southern lands after the Russians withdrew.
Their announcement came a day after the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky visited the newly liberated regional capital Kherson and declared “the beginning of the end of the war”.
Zelensky said at the G20 summit in Bali on Tuesday that “now is the time” to end the war.
“I believe now is the moment when Russia’s war of sabotage must and can be ended,” he said via video link, according to a statement obtained by AFP. “It will save thousands of lives.”
Ukrainian forces have since September pushed further south, and last week Russia announced a complete withdrawal from the southern regional capital Kherson, allowing Ukraine to move in.
“Employees of the Nova Kakhovka state government, as well as state and municipal institutions, have left the city and been moved to safe locations in the region,” the Moscow-installed administration said on Telegram.
Russian-backed officials said that after Moscow withdrew its troops from Kherson city, Nova Kakhovka was “indiscriminately burned” and “life in the city is not safe.”
They also claimed “thousands of residents” had followed their recommendation to leave to “save themselves”, saying Kyiv’s forces would seek “revenge against their collaborators.”
Authorities stated that this does not mean the city is “abandoned” and that the “team of city workers” are working to ensure “the functioning of the water and energy systems.”
Nova Kakhovka lies on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, which is now the natural dividing line between Ukrainian forces recapturing Kherson city to the west and Russian forces on the opposite bank.
It is also home to the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam that was occupied at the beginning of the invasion because of its strategic importance providing for the annexed Crimean peninsula of Moscow.
The Russian-controlled dam is a particular focus now after Zelenskiy accused the Russian military of planning to blow it up to cause a devastating flood.
Any problems with the dam would cause water supply problems for Crimea, which has been under Russian control since 2014 and which Ukraine hopes to recapture.
Russian forces last week said a Ukrainian attack had damaged the dam.
The head of the Russian-designated Kherson region, Boris Saldo, on Tuesday said the dam is no longer operational.
“Today, turbines do not produce electricity and it is not necessary to do this,” he told state TV channel Rossiya-24, according to Russian agencies.
“The situation is more dangerous – not with power generation – but with the dam itself, which, in the event of an explosion, would flood a fairly large area.”
The loss of Kherson is the latest in a string of defeats for the Kremlin, which invaded Ukraine on February 24 in hopes of a lightning takeover that would topple the government within the next few days.
secretary general nato Jens Stoltenberg However, it also warned that Ukraine was facing difficult months ahead and said Russia’s military capabilities should not be underestimated.
The new bombardment, which officials say hit residential buildings in Kiev, intrudes on days when Ukrainians are jubilant over retaking the key city of Kiev. Kherson.
Lviv to the west and Kharkiv to the east were also hit on Tuesday, authorities said, but there was no immediate information on possible casualties.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced the attack after reports that air raid sirens were ringing across parts of Ukraine, saying at least half of Kyiv residents were without electricity.
“According to preliminary information, two residential buildings were attacked in the Pechersk district,” he said, adding that “several missiles were shot down… by air defense systems.
Presidential deputy chief of staff Kyrylo Tymoshenko said the missiles were fired by Russian forces.
He distributed footage of the apparent scene of the attacks, showing a fire at a five-story Soviet-era residential building.
“The danger has not passed. Stay in shelters,” he added in an online statement.
The attacks occurred after appointed Russian officials in New Kakhovka said it was leaving the key southern city, blaming artillery fire from Kiev forces, who were retaking southern lands after the Russians withdrew.
Their announcement came a day after the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky visited the newly liberated regional capital Kherson and declared “the beginning of the end of the war”.
Zelensky said at the G20 summit in Bali on Tuesday that “now is the time” to end the war.
“I believe now is the moment when Russia’s war of sabotage must and can be ended,” he said via video link, according to a statement obtained by AFP. “It will save thousands of lives.”
Ukrainian forces have since September pushed further south, and last week Russia announced a complete withdrawal from the southern regional capital Kherson, allowing Ukraine to move in.
“Employees of the Nova Kakhovka state government, as well as state and municipal institutions, have left the city and been moved to safe locations in the region,” the Moscow-installed administration said on Telegram.
Russian-backed officials said that after Moscow withdrew its troops from Kherson city, Nova Kakhovka was “indiscriminately burned” and “life in the city is not safe.”
They also claimed “thousands of residents” had followed their recommendation to leave to “save themselves”, saying Kyiv’s forces would seek “revenge against their collaborators.”
Authorities stated that this does not mean the city is “abandoned” and that the “team of city workers” are working to ensure “the functioning of the water and energy systems.”
Nova Kakhovka lies on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, which is now the natural dividing line between Ukrainian forces recapturing Kherson city to the west and Russian forces on the opposite bank.
It is also home to the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam that was occupied at the beginning of the invasion because of its strategic importance providing for the annexed Crimean peninsula of Moscow.
The Russian-controlled dam is a particular focus now after Zelenskiy accused the Russian military of planning to blow it up to cause a devastating flood.
Any problems with the dam would cause water supply problems for Crimea, which has been under Russian control since 2014 and which Ukraine hopes to recapture.
Russian forces last week said a Ukrainian attack had damaged the dam.
The head of the Russian-designated Kherson region, Boris Saldo, on Tuesday said the dam is no longer operational.
“Today, turbines do not produce electricity and it is not necessary to do this,” he told state TV channel Rossiya-24, according to Russian agencies.
“The situation is more dangerous – not with power generation – but with the dam itself, which, in the event of an explosion, would flood a fairly large area.”
The loss of Kherson is the latest in a string of defeats for the Kremlin, which invaded Ukraine on February 24 in hopes of a lightning takeover that would topple the government within the next few days.
secretary general nato Jens Stoltenberg However, it also warned that Ukraine was facing difficult months ahead and said Russia’s military capabilities should not be underestimated.
