Russia destroys power and water infrastructure across Ukraine

Russia has nearly destroyed a third of Ukraine’s power stations in the last week, President Volodymyr Zilenskiy stated on Tuesday (18 October). Moscow rained further missiles on infrastructure in what Kyiv called a campaign to intimidate civilians.

Three people were killed when missiles hit power stations in Kyiv's capital. One person was killed when his Mykolaiv south flat was destroyed.

Russia has admitted to targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure using drone and missile strikes since last week's start. This was in what President Vladimir Putin called legitimate retaliation for the blast on a bridge.

Kyiv and West both claim that intentionally attacking civilian infrastructure was a war crime. The attacks, which are meant to leave Ukrainians without heat or power when winter arrives, are Putin’s latest tactic for escalating a war his forces have lost.

"The situation in the country is very critical right now. "The whole country must prepare for electricity, water, and heating outages," Kyrylo Tyrmoshenko, deputy head, said to Ukrainian television.

Reuters reported three explosions in Mykolaiv on Tuesday morning. One wing of a downtown building was completely destroyed by a missile, leaving behind a large crater. The body of a victim was pulled from the rubble by a fire crew.

Oleksandr, the owner a nearby flower shop, said that Russians "probably take pleasure in this".

Zelenskiy stated that Russia continued to terrorize and kill Ukrainian civilians.

He wrote that 30% of Ukraine's power plants have been destroyed since Oct 10th, which caused massive blackouts throughout the country.

Zelenskiy reiterated that he would not negotiate with Putin, who he claims is a "terrorist" state.

After the Russian leader annexed four Ukrainian provinces, Zelenskiy decided to eschew negotiations with Putin. After suffering humiliating battlefield losses, Putin also summoned hundreds of thousands of reservists to his side and repeatedly threatened with using nuclear weapons.

'KAMIKAZE DRONES'

It was not immediately clear how many people were killed in the strikes on Tuesday. A day earlier, Russia sent swarms of drones in attack on infrastructure in Kyiv, and other cities. At least five people were killed.

Moscow denies intentionally targeting civilians. However, it has pummelled villages and towns across Ukraine in what it initially called "special military operations" to disarm its neighbor.

The Russian defense ministry reiterated earlier statements, claiming that it was using high precision weapons to attack what it called military targets and the energy infrastructure in Ukraine.

Russia accuses Ukraine of using Iranian-made Shahed136 'kamikaze' drones, which are designed to fly to their target and explode. They are denied by Iran, and the Kremlin denies using them on Tuesday.

Two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats said to Reuters that Tehran had vowed to provide Russia more drones and surface-to-surface rockets. This move was sure to anger the United States and its allies.

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, said that he would request Zelenskiy to terminate diplomatic ties with Iran in protest at the drones. He said that Iran's actions were vile, deceitful.

NATO will provide air defense systems to Ukraine in the "coming days", according to Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the alliance. This is to assist Ukraine against drone attacks.

'GENERAL ARMAGEDDON'

Russia named General Sergei Surovkin the overall commander of Moscow’s forces in Ukraine earlier this month. Surovikin was nicknamed "General Armageddon" by Russian media. He served in Syria, Chechnya, and helped to destroy cities with a brutal, but effective, scorched earth policy.

His appointment was swiftly followed by the largest wave of missile strikes against Ukraine ever since the beginning of the war.

Putin used those strikes to retaliate for the explosion that destroyed Russia's bridge over Crimea, which was the Russian-occupied peninsula Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. Although Kyiv did not claim responsibility for the attack, it celebrated the destruction and use of that military target to transport troops and arms.

James Heappey, British Armed Forces minister, stated to BBC Radio that Surovikin pursued a cruel and ineffective strategy to try to "break the will" of the Ukrainian people.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin stated that four Ukrainian territories it claimed to have annexed recently were protected by its nuclear arsenal.

This statement comes as Russia and NATO prepare for annual military exercises to assess their nuclear weapons readiness. Russia's defense ministry announced Tuesday that two of its nuclear-capable Tu95MS strategic Bombers had flown more than 12 hours above the Pacific Ocean, Bering Sea, and Sea of Okhotsk.

Putin previously stated that he was ready to use nuclear weapons to protect Russia's territorial integrity.

Governors of Russia's Belgorod and Kursk regions bordering Ukraine reported Tuesday cross-border shelling.

They claimed that a train station in Belgorod was destroyed and the train links were suspended. Two villages were also attacked in Kursk, which caused electricity outages.

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