The Electricity Infrastructure ENDows And Endangered In Winter, President Zelensky U.N. U.S. Law Of Russia
JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the UN Security Council to act against Russia, in connection with airstrikes against civilian infrastructure that have again plunged Ukrainian cities into darkness and winter as winter approaches.
Russia fired a spate of missiles across Ukraine on Wednesday, killing 10 people, forcing the closure of nuclear power plants, cutting off supplies of water and electricity in many places.
"Today is only one day, but we have received 70 missiles. It is a Russian terror formula. It's all about our energy infrastructure. Hospitals, schools, transportation, residential districts are all suffering," President Zelensky said in a video link speech during a UN DK meeting. November 24.
Ukraine is waiting to see a "very firm reaction" against Wednesday's airstrikes from the world, he added.
Meanwhile, UN DK is unlikely to take any action in response to the appeal, as Russia is a member with veto rights.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Russian President Vladimir Putin "clearly armed winter to cause tremendous suffering to the Ukrainian people."
The Russian president "will try to freeze the country to bow," he added.
Separately, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya complaining that it violated the council's rules regarding President Zelensky's appearance via video, rejecting what he called "discriminate threats and ultimatums" by Ukraine and its supporters in the West.
Nebenzya said Ukraine's infrastructure damage was caused by missiles fired by Ukraine's air defense system that crashed into civilian territory after being fired into Russian missiles.
He asked the West to stop providing Ukraine with air defense missiles.
Meanwhile, the capital Kyiv was one of the main targets of missile attack on Wednesday. "Today we got three attacks on a tall apartment building. Unfortunately 10 people were killed," said Home Secretary Denys Monastyrsky.
All areas of Kyiv, where more than 3 million people live, have lost electricity and running water, governor Kyiv said.
Most Ukraine is experiencing similar problems, some areas are implementing emergency blackouts to help conserve energy and make improvements.
Meanwhile, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, speaking late Wednesday said 80 percent of people in the capital were still without electricity and water.
However, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said repair crews were working hard and "electricity will begin to emerge in the coming hours."
By 6 p.m., electricity in the western half of Lviv's city had recovered after repairs, the mayor said.
Since October, Russia has admitted to targeting Ukraine's civil energy network far from the front lines, as Ukraine's retaliatory attacks have reclaimed territory from Russian invaders in the east and south.
Moscow says its missile strike goal is to weaken Ukraine's ability to fight and encourage it to negotiate.
Kyiv said the attack on infrastructure was a war crime, which was deliberately intended to harm civilians and violate national will.
"We will update everything and get through all this because we are persons who cannot be destroyed," President Zelensky stressed.