Russian forces showered Ukraine with more missiles and munition-carrying drones Tuesday, the day after widespread strikes killed at least 19 people in an attack the UN human rights office described as “particularly shocking” and amounting to potential war crimes. Air raid warnings sounded throughout Ukraine for a second straight morning as officials advised residents to conserve energy and stock up on water. The strikes have knocked out power across the country and pierced the relative calm that had returned to Kyiv and many other cities far from the war's front lines, the AP reports. "It brings anger, not fear," Kyiv resident Volodymyr Vasylenko, 67, said as crews worked to restore traffic lights and clear debris from the capital's streets. "We already got used to this. And we will keep fighting."
Ukrainian officials said the strikes on power plants and civilian areas made no "practical military sense." The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers condemned the bombardment and said they would "stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes." Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraine's people. Russia launched the widespread attacks in retaliation for a weekend explosion that damaged the Kerch Bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Vladimir Putin alleged that Ukrainian special services masterminded the blast. The Ukrainian government has applauded it but not claimed responsibility.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the G7 leaders during a virtual meeting that during the past two days Russia fired more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine, and that while Ukraine shot down many of them, it needs "more modern and effective" air defense systems. Zelensky thanked the US and Germany for speeding up the delivery of the first of four promised IRIS-T air defense systems. Zelensky also urged the leaders to respond "symmetrically" to the attacks on the Ukrainian energy sector by doing more to stop Russia from profiting off its exports of oil and gas. "Such steps can bring peace closer," he said. "They will encourage the terrorist state to think about peace, about the unprofitability of war."
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The head of Britain’s cyber-intelligence agency, Jeremy Fleming, said Tuesday in a rare public speech that Russia is running out of military supplies and struggling to fill its ranks. "Russia’s forces are exhausted," Fleming said. "The use of prisoners as reinforcements, and now the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced conscripts, speaks of a desperate situation." A spokesperson for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday that strikes on "civilian objects," including infrastructure such as power plants, could qualify as a war crime. "Damage to key power stations and lines ahead of the upcoming winter raises further concerns for the protection of civilians and in particular the impact on vulnerable populations," Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
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