Russia Launches Fresh Bombardment of Ukrainian Infrastructure in Kyiv

The Russian military has once again targeted key infrastructure installations in Ukraine, including in the capital of Kyiv (Kiev) where some residents have been left without power and water, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Following a round of “kamikaze” drone strikes on the Ukrainian capital on Monday that reportedly left five dead, power and water stations were reportedly targeted in Kyiv on Tuesday.

In a series of posts on Telegram, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that as a result of “rocket attacks by Russian barbarians, two objects of critical infrastructure were damaged.”

“Currently, the provision of electricity and water supply services is partially limited in many houses on the left bank of the capital. In some houses, a decrease in pressure in the water supply network, a change in the colour and transparency of the water is possible. I appeal to all Kyiv residents to save electricity as much as possible,” the former heavyweight champion turned Ukrainian politician urged.

“City services are doing everything possible to stabilise the situation as soon as possible and to return vital services to the people of Kyiv,” Klitschko added.

The mayor of Kyiv went on to claim that a fifth body, that of an elderly woman, was found in the rubble of a drone attack on Monday morning. It is believed that the unmanned drones used in the “kamikaze” attacks on infrastructure throughout the country on Monday were of Iranian origin.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, the BBC reported that missile strikes hit the north-eastern city of Kharkiv as well as infrastructure targets in the city of Zaporizhzhia in the south. Power and water services were also disrupted in the central city of Dnipro, where an energy facility was demolished.

In a post on social media on Tuesday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that over the past week, 30 per cent of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed causing blackouts throughout the country. Zelensky described the targeting of infrastructure as “another kind of Russian terrorist attack” and therefore there is “no space left for negotiations with Putin’s regime.”

The increased targeting of Ukrainian infrastructure targets followed the truck bombing of the Kerch bridge that connects the Russian mainland with the Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. The Russian government has characterised the bombing as a terror attack and claimed that the Ukrainian Defence Ministry was behind it.

The response to the uptick in shelling from the West has been to pledge more air-defence systems with the hopes of being able to assist the Ukrainians shoot drones and missiles out of the sky. So far the United States, Germany, France and Spain have all said that they would be sending more weapons systems.

With the slight exception of French President Emmanuel Macron, who despite pledging more weapons systems, has called for a return to negotiations and has played down the idea that France would enter into a nuclear exchange with Russia over Ukraine, there has seemingly been little appetite amongst Western leaders to push for peace talks. This is despite the increasingly heated rhetoric on all sides of the conflict, with the Russians warning of World War III and President Joe Biden professing potential “Armageddon“.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka