Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday threatened to strike “decision-making centers in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, with Russia’s new Oreshnik hypersonic cruise missiles, after pounding Ukrainian energy infrastructure and cutting off power to more than one million people across the country.
“We do not rule out the use of Oreshnik against the military, military-industrial or decision-making centers, including in Kyiv,” Putin told a news conference in the Kasakh capital, Astana.
He said he launched Thursday’s drone and missile attack against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with U.S. medium-range ATACMS missiles.
The attack marked Russia’s second big attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this month. Officials said it was the 11th major strike on Ukraine’s energy system since March.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of a “despicable escalation,” saying it had used cruise missiles with cluster munitions.
The attack marks Russia’s second big attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this month. Officials said it was the 11th major strike on Ukraine’s energy system since March.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow launched the attack in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with U.S. medium-range ATACMS missiles. Putin also said Russia’s future targets could include “decision-making centers” in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
Ukraine called on the international community to respond to Putin’s threats to target government centers in Kyiv.
“We expect those countries that have urged everyone to avert the expansion of the war to react to the statements voiced by Putin today,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said.
In addition to the more than 1 million people who lost power in the aftermath of the strikes, millions more had their existing schedule of rolling power cuts escalated.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia used 91 missiles and 97 drones in the assault. The air force said 12 of those hit their targets, the majority of which were energy and fuel facilities. All missiles or drones aimed at Kyiv were brought down, officials said.
“The enemy is using a large number of missiles and drones. Their massive use in certain areas often exceeds the number of means of [air defense] cover,” the air force said in a statement.
In the Lviv region, 523,000 subscribers lost electricity, regional head Maksym Kozytsky said on social media. The region, in the western part of the country, borders Poland.
Directly north of the Lviv region, 215,000 customers lost power in the region of Volyn, and 280,000 lost power in the neighboring Rivne region, their governors said.
“Energy infrastructure is once again targeted by the enemy’s massive strike,” Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko wrote on Facebook.
Ukrenergo, the national electrical grid operator, introduced emergency power cuts amid the attack, Galushchenko said.
Officials told Reuters that several nuclear power units were disconnected from the network during the attacks.
Private power company DTEK said the power cuts impacted Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.
Some regional officials said water service was also affected by the airstrikes.
The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak, said in a Telegram post that Russia had stockpiled missiles to strike Ukrainian infrastructure and wage war against civilians during the cold season, The Associated Press reported.
The three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is looming, and Russian ground forces are advancing at their fastest pace in two years.
On Thursday, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry urged its partners to accelerate the delivery of military aid, saying that was more important than drafting more men.
“We are now in the situation when we need more equipment to arm all the people that have already been mobilized, and we think the first priority is to send quicker, faster military aid,” Tykhyi, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, told reporters in Kyiv.
The statement comes one day after a senior U.S. official said Wednesday that Ukraine should consider lowering the age of military service for its soldiers from 25 years old to 18 in order to replace those lost on the battlefield.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Ukraine is ready to host a second global summit aimed at ending Russia’s invasion in the “nearest future,” according to local media.
Kyiv hosted its first “peace summit” in June in Switzerland. Russia was not invited.
Speaking in Kazakhstan on Thursday, Putin said there were no preconditions to start talks with Ukraine on a possible peace deal, but that terms he set out in June for the deal remained the same.
In June, Putin said Russia would end the war only if Kyiv agreed to drop its NATO ambitions and hand over four entire Ukrainian provinces claimed by Moscow. Kyiv rejected those demands as amounting to surrender.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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