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| After a Russian missile attack on Kiev, Ukraine, November 23, 2022 |
Russia launched a new airstrike Wednesday on Ukraine’s already battered power grid, apparently to put Ukrainians in extreme misery as winter falls.
Kiev authorities say the air strike hit a two-story building and killed three people. Ukrainian officials reported losing power in many cities, including parts of Kiev and neighboring Moldova.
The mayor of Kiev said that “one infrastructure in the capital was hit,” and one person was injured. The mayor of Lviv, a western city near the Polish border, said the entire city was without power and it was not yet known how many targets had been hit.
Russia has carried out multiple attacks on power facilities across Ukraine in recent weeks, leading to widespread power outages. Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya NPP has again lost external power and has to rely on emergency diesel generators to power the nuclear reactor cooling and other critical nuclear safety functions, the IAEA said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he ordered Ukraine’s representative to the United Nations to request an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the latest attack, which is scheduled for late Wednesday.
“The murder of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure are acts of terror,” Zelensky said, adding that “Ukraine continues to demand a firm response from the international community to these crimes.”
At the time of the attack, the United States announced an additional $400 million in ammunition and generator assistance to Ukraine, bringing U.S. aid to Ukraine to more than $19 billion.
Ukrainian officials also said Russian overnight airstrikes destroyed a hospital delivery room in southern Ukraine, killing a newborn and injuring her mother.
Authorities said the missile destroyed a two-story building in the city of Vilnyansk in the Zaporizhzhia region. Emergency workers said the baby’s mother and doctors had been rescued from the rubble.
First lady Olena Zelenska expressed her condolences on Twitter, saying “horrific pain.” We will never forget, and we will never forgive.
President Zelensky said Russia “continues to strike at civilians and civilian targets,” and blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelensky said that “once again the enemy has decided to try to achieve with terror and murder what he could not achieve in 9 months and will not be able to obtain.” He will only be held accountable for all the sins he has brought to our country.
Zelensky welcomed the European Parliament’s decision to designate Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism.”
The resolution adopted Wednesday by EU lawmakers said it was “the deliberate attacks and atrocities committed by the Russian Federation against the civilian population in Ukraine, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and other grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.” The search for the monastery was carried out in a Russian Orthodox Christian monastery in Kiev to combat “subversive activities by Russian special services,” Ukraine’s security services said Tuesday.
The World Heritage-listed Kiev cave monastery was searched, and a priest spoke in favor of Russia at a recent ceremony.
Ukrainian authorities said the search was carried out on suspicions of possible Russian covert activities. The Russian Orthodox Church strongly supported Putin’s invasion, and hundreds of Orthodox churches in Ukraine cut off relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Ukraine’s counterintelligence and counterterrorism department said it was searching the monastery for any weapons or foreign citizens and potential intelligence.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the Ukrainian authorities of “waging war against the Russian Orthodox Church.” He said the search was “part of these aggressive actions against the Russian Orthodox Church.”
Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church called the Russian invasion a “metaphysical struggle” between Moscow and the West. He denounced Tuesday’s search as an “act of intimidation.” A
priest of the cave monastery spoke about Russia’s “awakening” during the November 12 ceremony and sang songs in praise of the “Russian world.” His speech was filmed.
Ukraine’s security chief, Vasyl Malyuk, said at the time that “in the event of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, those waiting for a ‘Russian awakening’ should know that this endangers the safety and interests of Ukraine and our citizens.” We will not allow such a performance.
(Part of this article is based on reports by the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters.)
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