The Ukrainian city of Kherson, in Russian hands, was deprived this Sunday of water and electricity after a bombing attributed to Ukrainian troops carrying out a counter-offensive in the south of the country.
“A terrorist attack, organized by the Ukrainian side, three damaged concrete power line poles on the Berslav-Kajovka axis, “Russian occupation authorities said on Telegram.
“There is currently no water or electricity in the city or in some districts of the region,” they added.
This is the first time that Kherson, occupied by Russian troops shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began in late February and annexed by Moscow in September, he is deprived of these vital services.
According to a representative of the emergency services, quoted by Russian news agencies, “More than ten cities in the region are without electricity.”
infrastructure
Russia has been evacuating tens of thousands of civilians from Kherson in recent weeks turn it into a “fortress” against the advance of a rapid Ukrainian counter-offensive.
So far, Ukraine has focused its attacks on Russian army supply lines and has only rarely bombed civilian infrastructure in occupied areas.
Russian bombing, meanwhile, 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure destroyed, causing numerous blackouts and water cuts in several regions, including the capital kiev.
Shortly before, Russian occupation authorities reported a Ukrainian bombing of the Kajovka Dam, about 60 km from Cherson.
“Today at 10:00 (08:00 GMT) six Himar missiles were launched. Anti-aircraft defense units shot down five, including one that hit the Kajokva dam lock, which was damaged,” he said. a representative of the emergency services of the Kherson region.
“Everything is under control”said the representative of the administration established by Russia in Nova Kajovka, the city where the dam is located.
“A missile hit [en el lugar] but it did not cause critical damage, “said Ruslan Agayev, quoted in the Russian press.
The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, installed on the Dnieper River, supplies water to the Crimean peninsulaannexed in 2014 by Moscow.
the missiles
Since July, the United States has delivered Himar missiles to Ukraine with much greater accuracy than the Soviet-made ones used up to now.
Both Ukraine and Russia have been warning since October risk of bombing against that strategic dam and the two countries accuse each other of endangering the lives of “thousands” of inhabitants of that area.
Two weeks ago, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski accused Moscow of attacking the dam with explosives. Russia called those allegations simple “lies”.
The Russian occupation authorities have been carrying out for three days “evacuations” of civilians in the towns near the dam, before a “possible missile attack” that could lead to “the flooding of the left bank” of the Dnieper.
Ukraine describes these evacuations as “deportations” of Ukrainians to less fighting territories or even to Russia.
Pope Francis, traveling to Bahrain, this Sunday prayed for “Ukraine as a martyr”, for the “end of the war”, after more than eight months of conflict.
On the ground, a 25-year-old Taiwanese man who volunteered to fight against Russian forces was killed, the island’s foreign ministry announced on Saturday.
In Starytsya, a small northeastern border town recaptured by the Ukrainian army in September, Kiev soldiers stand guard.
“Everyone to their home. Russia has her own country and let them stay there“, the commander of the 127th Ukrainian brigade, Roman Grishchenko, in charge of 5,000 men guarding this liberated territory, told AFP.
The Russian defense ministry said it had cleared “a deposit of missiles and artillery weapons of the Ukrainian armed forces”, including “120 Himar rockets”, in the occupied Donetsk region to the east.
Source: AFP
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Source: Clarin
