New campaign of Russian strikes under the first snows

Snow begins to fall in Kyiv, Ukraine, as Russian strikes intensify across the country, November 17, 2022. Sergey Supinsky/AFP

Betting on escalation, Russia launched a new campaign of strikes against Ukraine yesterday. Since October, the frequency of these operations on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has regularly deprived millions of residents not only of electricity but also of water in a country where temperatures can drop to -10°C. The national electricity operator Ukrenergo announced an extension of the blackout for a day due to the “deterioration of the situation.” “Due to a sharp cold snap in the regions of Ukraine, electricity consumption increased,” which “further complicated the already difficult situation in the electricity supply system,” which led to “wider restrictions” on energy consumption throughout the country,” Ukrenergo said. “.

Intense bombardment

The Kremlin said yesterday that the suffering of civilians in Ukraine, which will enter its 10th month of war on November 24, is due to Kyiv’s refusal to negotiate with Moscow. “This is a consequence of the unwillingness of the Ukrainian side to resolve the problem, start negotiations, and refuse to look for common ground,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Ukraine has already suffered massive strikes on Tuesday, following another humiliating retreat by Russian forces that, under pressure from a Ukrainian counter-offensive on Nov. 11, abandoned northern Kherson Oblast (South), which they nonetheless claim to annex. US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley ruled on Wednesday that these Russian missile strikes constituted a “war crime.” A senior US official said Russia had been defeated on all fronts in the war against Ukraine and was therefore waging a “campaign of terror” there. Yesterday’s new shelling sounded when the streets of the capital were covered with snow. Oblast Governor Aleksey Kuleba warned yesterday that the coming week would be “tough” with temperatures that could drop “as low as -10°C”.

In the Kyiv region, Ukrainian air defenses shot down two Russian-made Iranian-made Shahed cruise missiles and kamikaze drones, the city’s military administration said. One of these missiles was seen flying over a residential area in the east of the capital. In Dnipro (center-east), 14 people, including a 15-year-old girl, were injured in a bomb explosion, regional governor Valentin Reznichenko said. “Everyone has been hospitalized,” he added. According to the President, two infrastructure facilities were damaged as a result of this Russian strike. On the southern front in the Odessa region, the Russians attacked an infrastructure facility, injuring three people, the regional administration reported.

Willingness to Appease

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken assured yesterday that Russia bears “ultimate responsibility” for a deadly missile drop in Poland that killed two people on Tuesday, and an investigation should determine where it was fired from. “What we see every day today is how Russia is raining missiles on Ukraine, seeking to destroy its critical infrastructure, targeting Ukraine’s ability to maintain light, maintain heating and allow the country to live and move forward,” the Defense Minister said. . American diplomacy.

The fall of a rocket on the Polish village of Przewodow raised fears that NATO could be drawn into the conflict, leading to a serious escalation of the conflict, since Poland is protected by the Atlantic Alliance’s collective defense obligations. Russia denied launching the missile, while Warsaw itself considered it “highly likely” that it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft projectile, citing an “unfortunate accident.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday he “doesn’t know what happened”, saying the projectile was “Russian”. “We don’t know for sure. The world doesn’t know. But I am sure that it was a Russian missile, I am sure that we fired from air defense systems,” he said, quoted in a statement by the Ukrainian president.

At the diplomatic and economic level, an agreement allowing the export of Ukrainian grain from Ukrainian ports has been extended for four winter months, easing fears of a possible global food crisis. The Black Sea Grain Initiative expired at midnight on Friday. In recent weeks, intensive negotiations have been underway under the auspices of the UN to extend the agreement, while more than ten million tons of grain are still blocked in Ukrainian elevators. The four parties involved in this agreement, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the UN, yesterday confirmed the continuation of this agreement “without any changes,” according to a press release from Russian diplomacy. A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “new measures” could be taken after the unfavorable season in the Black Sea ends. The Black Sea Grain Initiative removed more than 11 million tons of grain from Ukrainian ports in four months after a long blockade of ports by the Russian military in the spring.

Source: AFP.

Source: L Orient Le Jour

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