Smoke rises on the outskirts of Kyiv on Monday
(Picture: REUTERS)More than two million Kyiv residents were reportedly left without water after a barrage of Russian missile strikes on critical infrastructure across Ukraine on Monday morning.
Ukrainian authorities reported strikes on the country’s capital as well as Kharkiv in the east and Zaporizhzhia to the south, cutting power and water supplies in some areas and leaving air raid sirens blaring across Ukraine.
Smoke could be seen rising above Kyiv after more than 10 explosions, witnesses said.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 80 per cent of the city’s three million consumers were left without water supplies because of damage to a power facility.
Authorities said 350,000 apartments in the Ukrainian capital were also left without electricity, while mobile phone systems were down in some areas.
Mr Klitschko advised Kyiv residents to “stock up on water from the nearest pump rooms and points of sale” while authorities worked to restore supplies.
Officials also reported possible power outages in the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia resulting from the strikes.
Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, said the northeastern city was struck by two missiles which targeted “a critical infrastructure facility”, and the subway ceased operating. Some parts of Ukrainian railways were also cut off from power, the Ukrainian Railways reported.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces carried out “strikes with long-range high-precision air and sea-based weapons against the military command and energy systems of Ukraine.”
“The goals of the strikes were achieved. All designated targets were hit,” the ministry said in a statement.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said of Monday’s attack in messaging app Telegram: “Russian losers continue waging war on civilian facilities.”
The attack comes two days after Russia accused Ukraine of a drone attack against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet off the coast of the annexed Crimean peninsula.
Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that Russia mishandled its own weapons, but Moscow still announced halting its participation in a UN-brokered deal to allow safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukraine.
Monday’s bombardment marks the second time this month that Russia unleashed a massive barrage of strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure.
On October 10, a similar attack rocked the war-torn country following an explosion on the Kerch Bridge linking Crimea to mainland Russia - an incident Moscow blamed on Kyiv.
Mr Yermak has vowed that the attacks on civilian facilities would not weaken Ukraine’s resistance.
“We will persevere, and generations of Russians will pay a high price for their disgrace,” he said.
Twelve ships carrying grain left Ukrainian ports on Monday, despite fears from international officials that Moscow would reimpose a blockade on Ukrainian grain, after Russia announced on Saturday that it was withdrawing from the UN-backed ship-escorting programme.
