Nicolas Tonev, with AFP 6:59 am Nov 7, 2022, modified at 2:51 pm Nov 7, 2022
THE ESSENTIAL
Ukraine on Monday received new Western air defense systems designed to fend off Russian missiles that regularly rain down on cities across the country, causing water and power outages as winter approaches. After several series of strikes in Russia, which left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity, the authorities in the Kyiv region, the Ukrainian capital, spoke of a “tense” situation for the energy supply.
Information to remember:
- Ukraine received new western air defense systems
- More than 4.5 million Ukrainians were without power on Sunday evening
- Kherson Regional Military Administration urged residents to ‘conserve electricity’
- Russia has destroyed about 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure
Aid to strengthen Ukraine’s energy infrastructure
The regional military administration called on residents to “use electricity sparingly”, while the operator Ukrenergo had to make “emergency stops”. A Russian drone and missile attack on October 31 left nearly 80% of the capital’s residents without water and 350,000 homes without electricity before repairing some of the damage.
To deal with these bombings, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Western countries to create a “shield” capable of protecting the critical infrastructure Moscow is targeting. According to Defense Minister Oleksiï Reznikov on Monday, Kyiv received NASAMS and Aspide air defense systems supplied by the United States, Spain and Norway. “These weapons will significantly strengthen the Ukrainian army and make our skies safer,” Oleksiy Reznikov wrote on Twitter.
These deliveries follow in particular those of the latest generation German “Iris-T” system or the French “Crotale” surface-to-air missiles. Britain has announced the deployment of AMRAAM missiles. In the face of Russian bombing, Westerners are hoping to provide Ukraine with a “patchwork” of anti-aircraft defenses, using some modern and some older equipment.
According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia has destroyed around 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since early October, including the use of Iranian-made suicide drones.
“Stabilization” in Kherson
On the Russian side, the occupying authorities in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine announced the “stabilization” of water and electricity supplies the day after two strikes for which Russians and Ukrainians blame each other. Those strikes also damaged the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, which is occupied by Russian forces and supplies annexed Crimea, in an area where Ukrainian troops have been on the offensive for weeks.
“Experts (…) have partially restored vital supplies in each micro-district of the city,” the occupation administration told the Russian news agency TASS on Monday.
Life in Kherson under constant threat
Kherson has been the main Ukrainian city captured by Russian forces since the invasion began in February. In the face of the impending struggle, Moscow has organized the evacuation of residents, which Kyiv has labeled as “deportations”. While the past four weeks’ starts have been marked by heavy Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities, Monday morning was relatively calm, with overcast gray skies in Kyiv not conducive to airstrikes.
“We have known for eight months that this can happen any day and we have adapted. I won’t change my routine for this, I will work like every day,” said a resident of the capital, Aliona Plekh, 21.
Four rockets and 24 bombings in Ukraine in the last 24 hours
According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces have launched 4 rockets and 24 airstrikes across the country in the past 24 hours. According to the respective regional authorities, at least one person was killed in the shelling in the southern Zaporizhia region, one was injured in the neighboring Kherson region and another was killed in the northern Sumy region.
The Russian army has again accused Ukrainian forces of firing “seven large-caliber shells” at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which Moscow has occupied since March, without causing an increase in radiation.
Moscow “open” to negotiations with Kyiv
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated on Monday that Moscow is “open” to the possibility of negotiations with Kyiv and again denounced Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s refusal to engage in dialogue. In Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine, residents fleeing Russian occupation told AFP journalists an atmosphere of paranoia was created by searches and confiscations of phones.
“We had to delete all our messages. God forbid if we say anything against Russia. Nobody felt safe,” said Irina Mykhailena from the occupied city of Berdyansk.