Ukraine denounces a new Russian “massive attack” against critical infrastructure

The Ukrainian presidency denounced this October 31 Russian “massive attacks” against the national electricity grid, including attacks in its capital kyiv.

“The Russian occupiers have launched several waves of missile attacks against critical infrastructure,” sources from the Ukrainian armed forces said through Telegram, as reproduced by the ‘Ukrinform’ portal.

The Kirovohrad and Vinnytsia regions reported attacks, while in Lviv, anti-aircraft defenses managed to neutralize the massive attacks by Russia, according to local media reports.

“Russian terrorists have launched new massive attacks on Ukraine’s energy system,” Kyrilo Tymoshenko, head of the presidential office, said forcefully.

The Zaporizhia region, which is on high alert for the danger of a nuclear disaster, was also targeted, as was Chernivtsi.

For his part, the mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, reported that several neighborhoods in the capital were left without electricity, while others were left without a supply of drinking water.

Within Russia’s new strategy to take control of Ukraine is the use of “kamikaze drones” against this electrical infrastructure, with civilian targets and further intensification of the offensive on kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenzki has strongly criticized the use of Iranian-made drones and called on the international community to punish their use, which violates human rights.

The uncertainty of the export of Ukrainian grains decreases

As confirmed by United Nations sources, several ships set sail today from Ukrainian ports to Istanbul, following the uncertainty generated after Russia decided to abandon its participation in the grain agreement last Saturday.

“There are 16 ships that plan to transit the humanitarian maritime corridor. Three are already in this corridor (…) 16 ships are planned to move in this corridor, 12 of them loaded, coming from Ukraine, and four heading to Ukraine” said Ismini Palla, spokesman for the UN Joint Coordination Center (JCC).

The MarineTraffic ship tracking program showed that some ships set sail from the Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhni, among which is the Ikaria Angel ship, which has been designated by the World Food Program to transport 30,000 tons of wheat to the Horn of Africa.

Since the agreement between the four parties – Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN – was signed, more than 9.5 million tons of grain and food products have been transported from Ukraine, facing the threat of a food crisis that Ukraine is experiencing. the world.

President Zelensky accuses Russia of “blackmailing the world with hunger.” For his part, his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that despite Moscow’s “dubious” behavior, Istanbul remains committed to working for the pact.

The Kremlin has tried to calm the food situation

Russia assured that “it will continue to support Africa”, after announcing its exit from the grain export agreement through the Black Sea, as reported by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.

“We are in contact with the leadership of many countries, especially African ones, that need support in supplying food and fertilizers,” Bogdanov said.

Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said his country will supply up to 500,000 tons of grain for free over the next four months to poorer countries.

He also showed his intention to completely replace Ukrainian cereals from the world market. Currently, Ukraine is listed as the largest exporter of grains globally.

He added that Russia has harvested 150 million tons of grain and that for this season it has an export “potential” of more than 50 million tons.

The United Nations seeks to safeguard the agreement

This Monday, the UN Security Council summoned a meeting to discuss the war in Ukraine and Moscow’s decision to suspend the agreement for the export of cereals, since the effects of its exit are immediate and the prices of wheat and corn have risen immediately in the international market.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said that before any new negotiations, the facts of Saturday’s attack on the Russian fleet in the port of Sevastopol in Crimea must be clarified.

“In the first place, it is necessary to clarify all the circumstances of what happened in the attack, a complete shame that violates all the conditions that had been previously agreed upon,” Rudenko said, quoted by the ‘RIA Novosti’ agency.

The Russian Defense Ministry assured that kyiv used naval drones “under the leadership of British representatives” near the city of Odessa and moved along the security zone of the grain corridor.

The grain agreement had an expiration date of November 19 and Russia had communicated that it was not sure about renewing it.

with EFE