Russia again attacks Ukraine with numerous rocket attacks. The goal: the country’s critical infrastructure. In Kyiv, there are interruptions in electricity and water supplies. There are three dead – including an infant. All news about the Ukraine war in the ticker.
6:25 p.m .: With 71 missiles and combat drones, Russia attacked Ukraine again on Wednesday night. In Kyiv alone, three people died in the attack, including an infant in a hospital. According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, critical infrastructure was again destroyed in the attack. For some time now, Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure – driving the population to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Large-scale blackouts, no water or heat supply are the result of the Russian rocket attacks in Kyiv. The WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, at a press conference in Kyiv, warned that Russia’s tactical destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure this winter threatens the lives of millions of Ukrainians.
“Put simply: This winter is about survival,” complains Dr. clever. Half of the energy infrastructure in Ukraine alone has been partially or completely destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of houses and apartments, schools and hospitals are without heating. Ten million people are without electricity. With a view to the coming winter and temperatures down to minus 20 degrees Celsius, this poses a dramatic health risk. “Cold weather can be deadly,” said Kluge. Not only is there a threat of respiratory infections such as Covid-19, against which large parts of the population are not sufficiently immune.
In a short video message, President Zelenskyi once again addressed his words to the world: “Russia shelled the power system and “ordinary people” with tragic results.” Experts tried to repair the damage to the power grid. “We will innovate everything and we will survive everything because we are an indomitable people,” he said. However, the repairs will continue to take time due to the severity of the damage, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy.
Zelenskyj called for a special session of the UN Security Council in New York because of the attack. The Council then put a meeting on Wednesday on the agenda.
3:23 p.m .: Rocket attacks were again reported from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other areas on Wednesday. According to the local military administration, three people were killed and six others injured in Kyiv. In addition, a critical infrastructure object was also damaged by the Russian shelling, Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote in the Telegram news service. It was initially unclear which building it was.
3:07 p.m .: After new Russian rocket attacks on Ukraine, its neighboring country, the Republic of Moldova, has also reported large-scale blackouts. “After Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine’s energy system in the past hour, we have massive power outages across the country,” Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu wrote on Wednesday in the Telegram news service. The utility Moldelectrica is working to solve the problem. According to Vite Prime Minister Andrei Spuni, half of the country is said to be without electricity, he said on Twitter.
The governor of the Ukrainian region of Khmelnytskyi announced that the nuclear power plant there had been disconnected from the power grid after the latest attacks. The media also reported emergency shutdowns in two other power plants. It was initially unclear whether there was a connection between these incidents and the power outages in Moldova.
2.45 p.m .: Rocket attacks were again reported from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other areas on Wednesday. In Kyiv, a critical infrastructure object was also damaged by the Russian shelling, Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote in the Telegram news service. It was initially unclear which building it was. The terrestrial television failed for a short time and there were stronger fluctuations in the already ailing power grid.
A little later, Klitschko announced that the water supply had failed in the entire metropolis with its three million inhabitants. According to the Kiev military administration, one person was killed and another injured in an impact on a two-story apartment building. Air alerts went off across the country.
Explosions – some of which were caused by anti-aircraft defenses – were also reported from the Odessa, Mykolaiv, Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions. There was initially no information on possible victims. According to Mayor Andriy Sadowyj, the western Ukrainian city of Lviv was initially completely without electricity after attacks.
Wednesday, November 23, 8:07 a.m .: According to Ukrainian information, the maternity ward of a hospital was hit during Russia’s night rocket attacks in the Zaporizhia region. “Pain floods our hearts – an infant who was just born was killed,” Zaporizhia’s military governor Olexandr Starukh wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday. Rescue workers are on duty in the small town of Vilnjansk, the site of the rocket impact.
There were also rocket hits in the neighboring regions of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk. In Donetsk, where Russian troops have been attacking more and more for weeks, Ukrainian authorities said one person was killed and eight injured. There were no casualties in the Dnipropetrovsk region. However, more than 30 projectiles hit towns, said military governor Valentyn Resnichenko.
Since Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine began nine months ago, the United Nations (UN) has registered more than 6,500 civilian deaths, including more than 400 children. However, the actual number of civilians killed is significantly higher, according to both the UN and Kiev estimates.
8:07 p.m .: The Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia, was attacked with drones on Tuesday, according to local authorities deployed by Moscow. Two of the unmanned aerial vehicles had “already been shot down,” said the governor of the Sevastopol region, Mikhail Rasvoyaev, in the online service Telegram. He emphasized that civilian infrastructure had not been hit and called on the population to remain calm.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet is stationed in Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea. After an attack on the port at the end of October, Moscow temporarily suspended the grain agreement with Ukraine.
Tuesday, November 22, 8:42 a.m.: According to British assessments, a suspected Ukrainian attack on oil depots near the Russian port of Novorossiysk shows the vulnerability of the Russian Black Sea fleet. The British Ministry of Defense in its daily intelligence update on Tuesday referred to Russian and Ukrainian media reports that there was an attack on November 18 at an oil terminal near the Russian naval base.
“Not all details of this incident are known yet,” the ministry stressed. However, any demonstration that Ukraine has the ability to threaten Novorossiysk would pose another strategic challenge for the Black Sea Fleet. It would also further undermine Russia’s already reduced maritime influence in the Black Sea.
Media had reported that a Ukrainian drone had probably attacked a terminal of the oil company Transneft on the night of November 18. The company denied the reports.
After Ukraine attacked the Russian base of Sevastopol on the annexed peninsula of Crimea, the Russian Navy moved several submarines to Novorossiysk. The fact that this port is now also accessible to the Ukrainians is also a threat to Russian landing ships stationed there, it was said in London. These ships have taken on a more important role in supplying Russian forces in Ukraine since the Kerch Bridge was damaged in October.
8:24 p.m .: According to Kiev, Ukrainian and Russian troops continue to fight fiercely in the Donbass industrial area in eastern Ukraine. Russia is concentrating its attacks on the cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian general staff said on Monday evening. Elsewhere, the general staff spoke of an “active defense” of the Russian troops – that’s where the Ukrainians are apparently attacking. The places Kupjansk and Lyman as well as Novopavliwka and the front in the Zaporizhia region were mentioned. The Russian troops fought back with tanks, mortars, pipe and rocket artillery.
The information provided by the Ukrainian military was initially not independently verifiable. According to the official report, Russian troops in southern Ukraine are strengthening their defense lines on the southern bank of the Dnipro River. According to unofficial information, the Ukrainian artillery fired on this area in the direction of Crimea with their long-range artillery. Russian military bloggers reported on a successful Russian advance on the town of Marjinka near Donetsk.
You can read more reports on the Ukraine conflict on the following pages.
