Kyiv — Ukrainian officials said a “cowardly” Russian missile attack on a civilian energy site caused power outages across the country, cutting power to more than one million homes. Meanwhile, Russian authorities have ordered residents to leave Kherson “immediately” ahead of the expected efforts by the Kyiv army. to retake important southern cities.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a telegram On October 22, he said that Russia carried out a “massive attack” on Ukraine overnight and that “aggressors continue to terrorize our country.”
“During the night, the enemy launched a massive attack. 36 rockets were fired, most of which were shot down. These are vile attacks on important objects. Typical tactics of terrorists. ‘ he wrote. “The world can and must stop this terrorism.”
Kirilo Tymoshenko, deputy director of Zelensky’s office, said that Ukrainian air defense forces Shoot down 18 missiles.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a number of missiles had been shot down on approaches to the capital.
“Several rockets flying towards Kyiv were shot down in the area by air defenses. Thank you to our garrison!” Klitschko said.
Deaths related to the missile attack were not immediately announced, but officials said several people were injured.
Neither side reports could be verified.
In the face of continued Russian aggression, Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleva once again urged Ukraine’s Western allies to accelerate deployment of modern air defense systems.
“Some intercepted, some hit their target. Air defense saves lives. [Western] A decision on the Ukrainian air defense system should not be delayed for even a minute,” he said. kreba said.
According to local officials, power plants were damaged in the areas of Odessa, Kirovohrad and Lutsk, and electricity problems were reported in other areas.
“Another rocket attack by terrorists fighting civilian infrastructure and people,” Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, wrote on the Telegram app.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a government meeting that more than 400 installations, including dozens of energy installations, were damaged in 16 regions of Ukraine during the October 10-20 Russian attacks.
“The Russian military has identified our energy sector as one of the key targets for the attack,” Shmyhal said on Oct. 21.
“Russian propaganda and officials are outspoken about the purpose of all these attacks. According to them, Ukraine should be left without water, light and heat.” He said.
Meanwhile, on October 22, Russian-appointed authorities in the occupied and illegally seized southern Kherson region faced an ongoing counteroffensive in Kyiv against an estimated 60,000 inhabitants of the region’s eponymous main city. and ordered him to leave “immediately”.
“Due to the tense situation on the front line, the increased risk of mass shelling of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave the city and cross to the left bank of the Dnieper,” officials said on social media. rice field.
Authorities set up in Russia are moving people out of strategic cities in what they call evacuations, while Ukrainian authorities call them deportations.
The order was issued despite claims by the Russian Ministry of Defense on October 22 that Russian forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to breach control in Kherson.
“All attacks have been repulsed and the enemy has been pushed back to their starting positions,” the Defense Ministry said, adding that the Ukrainian offensive was launched towards the settlements of Piatyhatky, Sukhanovka, Savlkivka and Bezvodne on the west side of the Dnieper. added.
Russian forces also repelled attacks in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, the ministry said in a statement.
The city of Kherson, with a pre-war population of 280,000, was one of the first urban areas occupied by Russia at the start of the invasion.
Zelensky’s office said 88 settlements south of the Kherson region and 551 settlements northeast of Kharkov were “unoccupied”, and Ukrainian military counteroffensives in the Kherson region are underway.
Ukraine is pushing the Russian army in Kherson east across the Dnieper. Russian soldiers on the West Bank, where the city of Kherson is located, are reportedly cut off from supply lines and reinforcements.
Natalia Khmenyuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Southern Operations Command, said Ukrainian forces had attacked the Antonivsky bridge over the Dnieper river in the city of Kherson.
“We do not attack civilians or settlements,” Khmenyuk told Ukrainian television.
A Ukrainian strike has rendered the Antonivsky Bridge unusable, prompting Russian authorities to set up ferries and pontoon bridges for the movement of civilians and goods.
Russia sent thousands of recently mobilized troops to strengthen the defense of Kherson, the chief of staff of the Ukrainian army Said October 21st.
On October 21, Zelensky again called on the West to warn Russia not to blow up the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric dam on the Dnieper.
Zelensky said the Russian military had planted explosives inside the dam, blocking a huge reservoir and planning to blow it up.
“Now everyone in the world must act strongly and quickly to prevent another Russian terrorist attack. Destroying the dam would mean disaster on a large scale.