- Kyiv, other cities suffer power and water cuts
- Putin says missile strikes ‘not all we could have done’
- Russia also suspended its role in the grain deal after it said its ships were affected
- Zelenskiy says Russia is ‘blackmailing the world with hunger’
Kyiv, Nov 1 (Reuters) – Russia fired four missiles overnight at the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv, demolishing half an apartment building and killing one resident, a day after launching a missile barrage against several cities, including the capital Kyiv.
Rescue workers recovered the body of an elderly woman from the rubble of the apartment block early on Tuesday, Reuters witnesses said.
As rush hour began, passers-by passed a two-story schoolhouse, the front of which was torn off by the force of the blast, which left a massive crater.
“This is what the barbarian horde does,” said Irena Siden, 48, the school’s assistant principal, standing outside the destroyed building as workers began sweeping away the rubble.
“They (the Russians) are the descendants of the barbarian horde. They stole our history and how they are trying to steal our culture.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that missile attacks on several Ukrainian cities that targeted infrastructure and a decision to freeze participation in a Black Sea grain export program were responses to a drone strike to Moscow’s fleet in Crimea which it blamed on Ukraine.
Putin said at a press conference on Monday that Ukrainian drones had used the same sea lanes that grain ships transited under the UN agreement.
Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack and denies using the grain program’s security corridor for military purposes. The United Nations said on Saturday that no grain ships were using the Black Sea route after Russia said its ships in Crimea were attacked.
Meanwhile, on the 250th day of a war that has raged since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, Russian missiles rained down across the country. Explosions ripped through Kyiv, sending black smoke into the sky.
Russian forces bombed infrastructure in at least six regions of Ukraine on Monday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement on Facebook.
“This is not all we could have done,” Putin said at the televised news conference, indicating that more actions could follow.
Ukrainian authorities said energy infrastructure, including hydroelectric dams, was affected, and power, heat and water supplies were cut.
Oleh Synehubov, the governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, told Telegram that about 140,000 residents were without power after the attacks, including about 50,000 residents of the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
The Ukrainian military said it had shot down 44 of the 50 Russian missiles. But the strikes left 80 percent of Kyiv without running water, officials said. Ukrainian police said 13 people were injured in the latest attacks.
[1/16] A woman reacts next to the body of her neighbor found under the rubble of a residential house destroyed by a Russian missile attack in Mykolaiv, Ukraine November 1, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
Over the past three weeks, Russia has attacked Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure using expensive long-range missiles and cheap Iranian-made “suicide drones” that fly to a target and detonate.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Monday that 18 targets, mainly energy infrastructure, were hit in missile and drone strikes in 10 regions of Ukraine.
WHEAT PRICES JUMP
Moscow announced on Saturday the suspension of its role in the grain program after accusing Ukraine of using aerial and maritime drones to attack ships in Sevastopol Bay. He suggested that one of the drones may have been launched from a civilian ship chartered to export food from Ukrainian ports.
“Ukraine must guarantee that there will be no threats to Russian civilian ships or supply ships,” Putin said Monday, noting that under the terms of the grain deal, Russia is responsible for ensuring security.
Ukrainian and UN officials said Monday that 12 ships carrying grain left Ukrainian ports despite Moscow’s move. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country would continue to implement the program, negotiated by the United Nations and Turkey in July and aimed at alleviating world hunger.
“We understand what we offer to the world. We offer stability to the food production market,” Zelenskiy said at a press conference. Earlier he said Moscow was “blackmailing the hungry world”. Russia denies that this is its goal.
The US State Department said on Monday that food prices rose due to uncertainty surrounding the Black Sea grain deal and that Russia’s suspension of its participation was having “immediate and harmful” in global food security.
News that Moscow was pulling out of the deal had sent world wheat prices up more than 5% on Monday morning.
However, the continued flow of grain exports from Ukrainian ports suggested that a new global food crisis had been averted for now.
Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s largest food exporters. For three months, the UN-backed deal has ensured that Ukrainian exports can reach markets, lifting the de facto Russian blockade.
The ships that set sail on Monday included one contracted by the United Nations World Food Program to bring 40,000 tons of grain to drought-stricken Africa.
Also on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said Moscow had completed the partial military mobilization announced by Putin in September and that no further call-up notices would be issued.
Putin announced Russia’s first mobilization since World War II on September 21, one of a series of escalating measures in response to Ukraine’s gains on the battlefield.
Defense Minister Shoigu said at the time that some 300,000 additional members would be called up. But the mobilization has been chaotic and thousands have fled Russia to avoid being designated.
Reporting from Reuters bureaus, writing by Cynthia Osterman and Michael Perry; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Stephen Coates
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