Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called Russia’s massive attack on energy infrastructure a “very despicable escalation of Russian terrorist tactics”. The overnight barrage that left more than half a million in Ukraine’s western Lviv region cut off from electricity. Another 280,000 in the western Rivne region and 215,000 in the north-western Volyn region also lost power, officials said. Ukraine’s emergency services said the Russian strikes inflicted damage in 14 regions across the country, with the nation’s west hard-hit. Zelenskyy said that Russia had also fired “cluster munitions” during the attack.
Zelenskyy urging his allies to respond firmly to what he dubbed Russian “blackmail”. Russian president Vladimir Putin said the bombardment was a “response” to Ukrainian strikes on his territory with western missiles.
Putin also threatened to strike Kyiv with Oreshnik missiles, an intermediate-range weapon that Moscow used against the city of Dnipro last week and that Putin has claimed cannot be shot down by any air defence system. “Of course, we will respond to the ongoing strikes on Russian territory with long-range western-made missiles, as has already been said, including by possibly continuing to test the Oreshnik in combat conditions, as was done on November 21,” Putin told leaders of a security alliance of ex-Soviet countries at a summit in Kazakhstan. “At present, the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff are selecting targets to hit on Ukrainian territory. These could be military facilities, defence and industrial enterprises, or decision-making centres in Kyiv,” he said.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, described Putin’s claim that air defence systems could not take out Oreshnik missiles as “fiction, of course”. He said the Oreshnik was simply a lightly modified version of existing Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, adding that Putin had made similar claims about the Kinzhal missile until they were shot down by Patriot air defence systems.
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said Putin’s threat to strike Kyiv was a “testament to weakness”, adding that the west would not be deterred by his words.
Joe Biden has said the attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure showed the “urgency” of backing Kyiv, touting strong support ahead of Donald Trump taking office in January. “This attack is outrageous and serves as yet another reminder of the urgency and importance of supporting the Ukrainian people in their defence against Russian aggression,” Biden said in a statement. Trump is widely expected to bring a policy shift towards Ukraine, which has received almost $60bn from Washington for its armed forces since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Donald Trump’s plan to tap the retired US Lt Gen Keith Kellogg as US envoy to Ukraine and Russia has triggered renewed interest in a policy document he co-wrote that proposes ending the war by withdrawing weapons from Ukraine if it doesn’t enter peace talks – and giving even more weapons to Ukraine if Russia doesn’t do the same.
Georgian riot police deployed teargas and water cannon against demonstrators protesting against a decision by the pro-Russian ruling party to delay asking for European Union accession. Thousands rallied in the capital Tbilisi and cities across Georgia after prime minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced the decision amid a post-election crisis that saw the country’s president challenge the legitimacy of the newly elected parliament and government. The Caucasus country’s pro-western opposition has denounced the 26 October vote as “fraudulent”, while the EU and the US have called for an investigation into alleged electoral “irregularities”.