Russia and Ukraine: Putin threatens decision-makers in Kiev after targeting energy grid – BBC News Arabic

The Russian attack, which took place during the night, continued for several hours, with waves of drones and missiles targeting parts of Ukraine, making this attack the second of its kind this month .

There were no reports of deaths, but the attack left more than a million people in Ukraine without electricity.

Zelensky said cluster bombs were used against civilian and energy infrastructure.

Zelensky also noted that “cluster warheads are a special type of dangerous Russian weapon used against civilians,” adding that they “really complicate” the work of rescue and maintenance teams.

Putin said that the Russian attack, which included 90 missiles and 100 drones, also included the new ballistic missile “Oreshnik”, which, according to Putin, cannot be intercepted.

American officials believe that Russia may have a limited number of experimental Oreshnik missiles, and that it will take time to produce more of them.

Zelensky emphasized in a statement that “Putin is not interested” in “ending this war” and is trying to “prevent others from ending it,” as he said, saying to “Putin’s current promotion is a form of pressure, aimed at forcing the President. the United States to accept Russia’s terms.”

The Russian leader also stressed that Moscow will not allow Ukraine to acquire nuclear weapons, and if this happens, his country will use “all available means of destruction,” according to the Russian state news agency.

The New York Times reported last week that unnamed Western officials had proposed giving Ukraine nuclear weapons before US President Joe Biden leaves office in January.

Zelensky has also repeatedly regretted that the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which Ukraine gave up the nuclear weapons it had acquired from the Soviet Union, had left the country without the necessary security.

Russian attacks caused explosions in several cities, including Odessa, Kharkiv, and Lutsk.

Kiev was also the target of attacks, but Ukrainian authorities reported that all missiles aimed at the capital had been intercepted. The military department in Kyiv said the attack lasted about nine and a half hours.

It also targeted at least 12 regions in Ukraine, including three western regions. Energy Minister Herman Galoshenko said an emergency power outage was imposed.

The head of Rivne’s administration, Oleksandr Koval, said electricity supplies were cut off to more than 280,000 people in the western region.

In the Lviv region, the head of the department, Maxim Kozitsky, said that about 523,000 homes and businesses were without electricity.

In Kherson, authorities said electricity could be cut off from the city for several days.

Ukrainian authorities responded by proactively implementing emergency power outages, to minimize the damage caused by overloading the country’s power grid.

This comes in conjunction with the drop in temperature, as Ukraine saw the first days of snow, but the country has not yet entered the low temperatures and extreme cold of winter.

Ukrainian officials fear another coordinated Russian attempt to drain the power grid come winter.

Ukrainian officials had warned that Russia was stockpiling cruise and ballistic missiles, preparing to launch coordinated national attacks against Ukraine’s energy system.

Earlier this month, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, announced that its thermal power plants had suffered “extensive damage”, causing a power outage.

DTEK confirmed that Thursday’s attack was the eleventh “major” attack targeting the country’s energy system since March.

Since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, there have been over 190 attacks on Ukrainian power plants.

DTEK said the European Commission and the United States supported it in the form of equipment worth up to 107 million euros (89 million pounds) to restore electricity supplies.

After Ukraine survived two and a half winters since the all-out invasion of Russia in February 2022, Ukrainians are preparing for a new harsh winter.