‘We’ll tough it out, but their disgrace will cost the Russians dearly.’ Following new Russian missile strikes, Ukraine is coping with blackouts, Kyiv water supply is disrupted, and diesel locomotives service the railway cut off from electricity.

The Russian army has resumed massive missile strikes against Ukraine. On the morning of October 31, air-strike alerts were posted across all Ukrainian regions. Reports of explosions — in Kyiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Zaporizhzhia, Chernivtsi, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions — followed shortly afterwards. In Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi areas, missiles struck civilian objects. According to preliminary numbers, two people have been injured in the strikes in the Kyiv region. Here’s what else we know about the worst series of air strikes on Ukraine since October 10.

In just two hours, between 7 and 9 a.m. on Monday morning, the Ukrainian Air Force shot down 44 missiles launched by the Russian military. A total of 50 X-101 and X-555 cruise missiles were fired by Russian aircraft from the north of the Caspian Sea and from the Rostov region, according to the Ukrainian military’s report.

Once again, the air strikes have damaged critical infrastructure, including hydroelectric power plants. As a result, Kyiv is having problems with mobile phone service. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reports that some of the city is without electric power. He also says that shelling has damaged a facility that supplied electricity to 350,000 apartments, and that 80 percent of Kyiv’s population is now left without water supply.

In Kharkiv, all public transportation, including the subway, trams, and trolley-buses, has been stopped. Across Ukraine, some railway segments have been cut off from power, and are being serviced by diesel locomotives.

The Russian media and Telegram channels have reported explosions by the Dnieper hydroelectric dam in Zaporizhzhia, and near the Kremenchuk HPP in the Kropyvnytskyi region. In Odesa, local Internet pages are circulating a video showing the aftermath of an explosion that presumably occurred by the Novodnistrovska HPP.

Following the strikes, Ukraine resorted to emergency power cuts. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, said that this was due to the massive shelling of critical infrastructure. Oleksiy Kuleba, the head of Kyiv’s regional administration, asked residents to get ready for extended blackouts.

Commenting on the situation, Andrii Yermak, head of the President’s Office, said that Russians are continuing their warfare “against civilian objects.” “We’ll tough it out, but their disgrace will cost dearly to generations of Russians,” he said.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported strikes on Ukraine’s “military coordination facilities and energy systems.” Its daily report said that, using “long-range air- and sea-based precision weapons,” Russian strikes achieved all their aims, and hit all the designated targets.

Today’s strikes were probably the most extensive since October 10. The pro-Kremlin Russian project WarGonzo claims that Ukraine is experiencing the worst power outages since the start of Russia’s “special military operation.” Ukrainian authorities have made no comment on this assertion.

What happened on October 10

The civilian deaths and destruction wrought by Russia’s ‘high-precision’ missile strikes Among the ‘targets’ claimed to have been ‘reached’ are a Kyiv office building, a cycling bridge, playgrounds, and apartment blocks

2 years ago

What happened on October 10

The civilian deaths and destruction wrought by Russia’s ‘high-precision’ missile strikes Among the ‘targets’ claimed to have been ‘reached’ are a Kyiv office building, a cycling bridge, playgrounds, and apartment blocks

2 years ago

The Russian side explained the missile strikes of October 10 as a response to the explosion on the Russian-constructed Crimean Bridge, which Moscow attributed to Ukraine.

Today’s strikes were preceded by a drone attack on the Russian Black Sea fleet. Russia blamed the attack on Ukraine and “the British specialists” who supposedly aided it. Following the drone strike, Russia paused its compliance with the “grain deal” negotiated for the export of Ukrainian grain last July, with the mediation of the United Nations and Turkey.

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