Russia Launches New Strikes on Ukraine’s Energy Infrastructure
Nov. 24, 2022 (EIRNS)—Both Russian and Ukrainian authorities reported yesterday that Russia had launched large-scale missile attacks targeting Ukraine’s energy grid on Nov. 23, including in Kiev and elsewhere across the country. According to RT, Ukraine’s national power grid operator Ukrenergo reported emergency power outages in all regions, while Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that there were explosions in various parts of the city and that water supplies had been cut off. The whole of Odessa Region is without electricity, local authorities said. And the mayor of Kharkov, Ukraine’s second-largest city, reported that the subway system had been paralyzed, due to a power outage.
The interruption of electricity also forced the shutdown of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant in the southern city of Nikolaev, and the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant in western Ukraine.
At an emergency UN Security Council demanded by Zelenskyy (who did not attend) yesterday to discuss the situation, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia explained “We underscore again that we launch strikes against the Ukrainian infrastructure in retaliation for the pumping-up of Ukraine with Western weapons and the reckless calls to Kiev to win a military victory over Russia.” He further told the UNSC meeting:
“Undermining the combat capability of the Ukrainian army, which threatens the security and territorial integrity of Russia, is one of the goals of our special military operation. This task will be carried out by military means until the Kiev regime adopts a realistic position that would allow to negotiate and try to resolve the issues that forced us to start the SMO.
“So far, what we have heard from Mr. Zelenskyy and his adepts can in no way be described as ‘readiness for peace,’ but rather as the language of reckless threats and ultimatums. Kiev’s Western sponsors further encourage this irresponsible stance, because the war ‘until the last Ukrainian’ to be fought on the Ukrainian territory is something they benefit from. This is how their weapons industries can receive colossal profits, and also how NATO can test its armaments. In doing so, Western states seek to establish their geopolitical hegemony by proxy at the expense of Ukrainian lives,”
he concluded.
Nebenzia had also mentioned the “hysterical and absolutely untruthful” statements coming from Kiev about the Nov. 15 missile strike in Poland, when a Ukrainian S-300 missile killed two villagers in Przewodów. Yet the Western and even UN officials continue to uncritically repeat Ukrainian allegations, without evidence, he said.
He told U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, at the UNSC meeting, “Your thoughtless provision of weapons to Ukraine is already killing civilians not only in Donbas, but in Ukrainian cities and towns.”
