JAKARTA - Ukraine says Russia has destroyed nearly a third of the country's power plants over the past week, as Moscow stepped up cold pre-season attacks to attack infrastructure, a move the West sees as an attempt to disrupt and lower morale.
Missiles hit power generation facilities in a Ukrainian city, home to millions and killed several people. Moscow admits it is targeting energy plants, while Ukraine says water infrastructure is also affected.
"The situation is critical now across the country. All countries need to be prepared for power outages, water and heating," Kyrylo Tymoshenko, vice head of Ukraine's presidential office, told Ukrainian television.
At least one person was killed when Russian missiles destroyed an apartment in the southern river port of Mykolaiv into rubble.
"They (Russia) may get the pleasure of this," said Oleksandr, owner of the local flower shop that was damaged in the attack.
"They had fun from us because they felt bad. I think they wanted us to bomb and shoot up city buildings (they). But we wouldn't do that to be different from them," he said.
Two other people were reported killed in the attack on Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia continues to try to terrorize and kill civilians.
"Since October 10, 30 percent of Ukraine's power plants have been destroyed, causing massive blackouts across the country," he wrote on Twitter.
Another kind of Russian terrorist attacks: targeting 🇺🇦 energy & critical infrastructure. Since Oct 10, 30% of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed, causing massive blackouts across the country. No space left for negotiations with Putin's regime. @United24media pic.twitter.com/LN4A2GYgCK
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 18, 2022
Power outages were reported in parts of Kyiv, many parts of Zhytomyr's territory west of the capital and Dnipro, which, such as Mykolaiv, are in the south but also far from the front lines where Ukraine is putting pressure on Russian troops occupying its southeast.
President Zelensky also repeated his refusal to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin whom he accused of being immoral.
"The terrorist state will not change anything for itself with such an act," he wrote on the messaging app Telegram.
"It will only emphasize the essence of damaging and killing, which will definitely be held accountable," he continued.
Mayor Zhytomyr, a city of 263,000 people, said Tuesday's attacks had shut down electricity and water supplies, while two explosions rocked energy facilities in the city of Dnipro, a city of nearly 1 million people, causing serious damage, according to Tymoshenko, aide to the president of Ukraine.
There have also been reports of targeted power facilities in Kharkiv, a city with a pre-war population of 1.43 million people near Russia's borders, as well as in the city of Zelenskiy, Kryvyi Rih.
"In Mykolaiv, the enemy destroyed a residential building with an S-300 missile. Someone was killed. There was also an attack on the flower market, a castenye park. I want to know what Russia's terrorists are fighting in this completely peaceful facility?" Zelensky surprised.
There was no immediate news of how many people were killed in Tuesday's overall attack, which came a day after Russia sent drones to attack infrastructure in Kyiv and other cities, killing at least five people.
Separately, Moscow has denied deliberately targeting civilians, despite attacking villages and cities across Ukraine, during what it calls special military operations.
Meanwhile, Russia's Ministry of Defense stressed that it was carrying out attacks on military targets and energy infrastructure across Ukraine with high-precision weapons.
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