The capital and other Ukrainian cities were hit on Tuesday by new Russian strikes, the first since mid-October, a few days after a humiliating retreat of Russian forces in the south of the country and in the middle of the G20 summit in Indonesia.
Air defense sirens sounded across Ukraine shortly before 3:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. GMT). A few minutes later, explosions were heard in kyiv, Lviv (west) and Kharkiv (northeast).
Waves of ???????? cruise missiles are now hitting Kyiv as well as other cities in ????????. After losing Kherson ???????? is focusing on terror bombing against cities and civilians. pic.twitter.com/hYzPXYPzQO
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) November 15, 2022
Without electricity
Power cuts are currently underway in several regions of Ukraine following several Russian strikes.
In Lviv (west), the metro is notably “at a standstill”, Mayor Andriï Sadovy indicated on Telegram and part of the city of Kharkiv (north-east) is also suffering a power cut, according to the town hall. Voluntary power cuts have been put in place in the Sumy region, bordering Russia, according to regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky, to preserve the network.
“Attack on the capital: according to preliminary information, two residential buildings were hit in the Pechersk district. Several missiles were shot down by the air defense over kyiv,” mayor Vitali Klitschko said shortly after on Telegram. .
Half of Kiev is without electricity after today’s strikes. Looks like electrical substations/power stations were hit. Russia is preparing for winter with these strikes pic.twitter.com/lT0wLNzbq2
— LogKa (@LogKa11) November 15, 2022
“At least” half of the inhabitants of kyiv are currently without electricity, announced the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Vitaly Klitschko.
A Ukrainian presidential administration official released a video showing a five-story building in flames.
Other cities have been targeted elsewhere in the country.
No results were immediately made public.
The previous strikes that targeted the Ukrainian capital date back to October 10 and 17, and had above all targeted, as elsewhere in the country, Ukrainian energy infrastructure, in order to deprive the population of electricity at the approach of winter.
At the time, Moscow justified these “massive” strikes by the partial destruction of the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
This time, the strikes targeted kyiv four days after the humiliating withdrawal of Russian forces from the northern Kherson region, including its eponymous capital, after nearly nine months
Massive Strike
Russia fired “about” 100 missiles at Ukraine on Tuesday, a Ukrainian air force spokesman said.
“About a hundred missiles were fired (…) from the Caspian Sea, the (Russian) region of Rostov”, and also “from the Black Sea”, indicated Yuri Ignat live on Ukrainian television, specifying that ” at this stage, the use of attack drones has not been registered”.