Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged the United Nations to punish Russian airstrikes on civilian infrastructure after a series of missiles plunged cities into freezing darkness, causing the country’s worst-ever power outages.
As millions of Ukrainians face sub-zero temperatures, authorities worked hard on Thursday to restart lights and heating. Russia’s latest missile strike killed 10 people, disabled Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and left much of the country without electricity.
As of Thursday morning, regional officials in Kiev said electricity had been restored to three-quarters of the capital and water was working again in some areas. Transport in the capital is also backed up and working.
Authorities expected to restart three nuclear power plants in the Ukrainian-controlled area by the end of the day.
Since the beginning of October, Russia has been carrying out massive air strikes on power targets in Ukraine once a week.
Moscow admits to attacking basic infrastructure, saying its purpose is to reduce Ukraine’s combat capability and pressure it to negotiate. Kyiv says such attacks are clearly aimed at injuring civilians, making them a war crime.
“Today is just one day, but we have received 70 missiles. That’s Russia’s terror formula. All this against our energy infrastructure,” Zelenskiy said via video link to the UN Security Council hall during the night. said.
He called on the United Nations to take action to stop the attacks and said, “Hospitals, schools, transportation vehicles, residential areas were damaged.”
There was no prospect of action from the Security Council, where Russia had veto power. Vasily Nebenzya, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, said Zelensky’s appearance on video was against council rules and dismissed “reckless threats and ultimatums” from Ukraine and its supporters in the West.
“We will rebuild everything and overcome everything because we are an indestructible people,” Zelensky told the Ukrainians in the evening.
Ukraine says it shot down most of its missiles and regained most of its strength in a single day, but each of these attacks caused greater damage and more inconvenience to civilians.
“If Moscow really believes that the power outage will cause Ukrainians to overthrow the government and beg for mercy, the Kremlin still knows absolutely nothing about Ukraine after nine months of war,” said Zelensky’s adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak.
Winter has come suddenly in Ukraine, with temperatures dropping well below freezing in the capital, a city of three million. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Grefield said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “openly used winter as a weapon to inflict great suffering on the Ukrainian people”.
The Russian president added that he will “try to subdue the country”.
source: Noticias
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.