Kyiv residents queue for water after about 40 percent of the Ukrainian capital was left without water after a Russian missile attack, 31 October 2022. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
Kyiv residents queue for water after about 40 percent of the Ukrainian capital was left without water after a Russian missile attack, 31 October 2022. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/ReutersShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Live feedStrikes cut power to 270,000 homes in KyivUkraine suffered sweeping blackouts and water supplies were cut to large parts of Kyiv on Monday after another wave of Russian missile strikes on key infrastructure.
The Ukrainian army’s commander in chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said on Telegram that Russia had launched 55 cruise missiles and dozens of other munitions at “civilian targets” across the country, days after Russia blamed Ukraine for drone attacks on its fleet in the Black Sea.
Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich early Tuesday called the bombardment “one of the most massive shellings of our territory by the army of the Russian Federation”.
But he noted on the same platform that thanks to improved air defences, “the destruction is not as critical as it could be”.
Though the army said many of the missiles had been shot down, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said the strikes had still caused power cuts in “hundreds” of areas across seven Ukrainian regions.
Several blasts were heard in the capital Kyiv.
People take water from a pump in Kyiv, Ukraine, 31 October 2022. Photograph: Oleg Petrasyuk/EPAKyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said on Monday that 40% of the city’s residents had been left without water, while 270,000 homes had no electricity.
In the west of Kyiv, an AFP journalist saw more than 100 people with empty plastic bottles and containers waiting to collect water from a park fountain.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter: “Instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia fights civilians.”
Ukraine’s battered energy infrastructure would be repaired with equipment from 12 countries, Kuleba said in a separate statement.
The Russian army confirmed it had carried out cruise missile strikes and said they had all reached their intended targets.
In Moldova, the government said a Russian missile shot down by Ukrainian air defences fell on the village of Naslavcea in the north of the country, but without causing any injuries.
Key events
Show key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this feature
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, following a telephone call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said France would help Ukraine get through the winter and would help repair water and energy infrastructure damaged by Russian strikes.
France will also help boost Ukraine’s anti-air defences, Macron said he and Zelenskiy had agreed to hold an international conference in Paris on 13 December to support Ukraine civilians in winter.
A bilateral conference on 12 December will also aim at raising support for Ukraine from French companies, Reuters reports Macron said in a statement.
Macron has also previously promised to hold a conference in France in November in support of Ukraine’s neighbour Moldova.
Today so far Kyiv continues to recover from yesterday’s barrage of Russian missile strikes on hydroelectric plants and other critical energy and water infrastructure. Crews were able to restore water and lights to the 270,000 homes in Kyiv today, but Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko warned on Telegram that it might be a while longer before crews will be able to restore full electricity – they must wait for the stabilisation of the energy system. “I ask Kyiv residents to save electricity, especially during peak morning and evening hours,” Klitschko said. “It is very important. Because the deficit in the energy system of Ukraine is significant.”
With Russia continuously targeting Ukraine’s energy and water infrastructure, Ukrainians are looking ahead toward what will likely be a cold and difficult winter and asking for donations of autonomous electricity and heat sources.
One week after Russian authorities relocated 70,000 civilians from the right bank of the Dnipro River to the left bank, Russian authorities are moving 70,000 civilians from the left bank to be “temporarily resettled deep into the Kherson region, as well as to other regions of the Russian Federation”, said Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson oblast. This is concerning, as it’s considered a war crime under the Geneva conventions for an occupying force to move civilians from an occupied territory, and there have been reports from other occupied territories of Ukrainians being relocated into Russian territories with no return in mind. However, Saldo said the reason behind the relocation was “possible damage to the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, which could cause flooding of the left bank of the Dnieper downstream”.
The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces believe that about 650 Russian soldiers were killed in the country in the last day.
One person was killed and two were injured last night in Bakhmut, while “the shelling of Torskyi and Zarichnyi in the Lymansk community does not stop”, said Donetsk oblast governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. “It is dangerous to stay in Donetsk region,” he warned. “Evacuate in time.”
Ukraine’s ministry of defence has intel that Iran plans on sending a batch of more than 200 combat drones to the Russian federation in early November, even though Iuriy Ihnat, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force command, said there has been a marked decrease in Russia’s use of Iranian kamikaze drones in recent days.
A grandmother tells a story of how her 14-year-old grandson went to get humanitarian aid from the Russians in the Kherson oblast – the only way for locals to get food at the time. Instead of helping him, she said, they shot him dead.
A 14 year old boy went to get humanitarian aid from the Russians in Kherson region (there was no opportunity for a lot of locals to get food any other way).
Russians shot him. His grandma tells of their tragedy.
📹: TikTok/ivanantypenko pic.twitter.com/7WOWqF5LoG
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 1, 2022
Luke Harding
Iuriy Ihnat, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force command, said there has been a marked decrease in Russia’s use of Iranian kamikaze drones in recent days – with only five deployed in Monday’s devastating attack on the country’s energy infrastructure.
Ihnat said Ukraine’s air defence systems shot down another six drones overnight. Three were destroyed in the east and another three in the Poltava region, he added. The Kremlin has purchased 2,500 drones and so far deployed around 400 of them, with 300 intercepted.
The reason for the decrease was unclear but could be down to the weather – they need clear conditions to fly – and the rate at which they can be assembled, he suggested.
Ihnat said Ukraine was bracing itself for attacks from Iranian ballistic missiles, which Moscow appears to have purchased from Tehran to make up for a dwindling supply of its own short-range Iskander rocket. He says it was “pretty much impossible” for Kyiv to shoot down Iranian weapons “with what we have currently”. It is expecting attacks to be launched from the north and Belarus, he added.
Ukraine MoD: Iran to send more combat drones to Russia this monthIran plans to send a batch of more than 200 combat drones to the Russian Federation in early November, Ukraine’s ministry of defence said in a statement.
According to the ministry of defence’s intel, the drones will include Shahed-136, Mohajer-6 and Arash-2 combat drones and “will be delivered via the Caspian Sea to the port of Astrakhan”. The drones will arrive in a disassembled state, and Russian forces will reassemble and repaint them with applied Russian markings, in particular “Geranium-2”.
The discovery of Iranian kamikaze drones last month stirred huge outcry over Iran’s involvement in the conflict. Since 13 September, Ukrainian defence forces have shot down more than 300 Iranian combat drones, the ministry of defence said.
Donetsk governor: one person killed in BakhmutOne person was killed and two were injured last night in Bakhmut, a city under siege for its strategic location in Ukraine’s industrial heartland of Donbas, Donetsk oblast governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram.
Russian forces also launched two missile strikes on the city of Kramatorsk, with fourteen missiles total aimed at the industrial zone, Kyrylenko said. Information about victims and damaged infrastructure from Kramatorsk is still unavailable.
Shelling on the outskirts of the villages in the Ocheretyn community damaged power lines, while raids on the outskirts of the villages in Kurakhovo destroyed a private house.
Meanwhile, Russian forces destroyed four houses in Kurdyumiyka, damaged one more and killed cattle in Nelipiyka.
Kyrylenko made note that “the shelling of Torskyi and Zarichnyi in the Lymansk community does not stop”.
“It is dangerous to stay in Donetsk region,” he warned. “Evacuate in time.”
With Russia continually targeting Ukraine’s energy and water infrastructure, Ukrainians are looking ahead toward what will likely be a cold and difficult winter:
Best support for Ukraine today, besides weapons, are autonomous electricity & heat sources
If you have a generator you don’t or rarely use – please consider gifting it to 🇺🇦. We have a difficult winter ahead but we will prevail
Please contact 🇺🇦 embassy in your country for this
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 1, 2022 The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces believe that about 650 Russian soldiers were killed in the country in the last day.
Good day, more than 600 russian occupiers have been eliminated again. The enemy suffered the greatest losses in the Avdiivka and Bakhmut directions. pic.twitter.com/toAERyvhjK
— Генеральний штаб ЗСУ (@GeneralStaffUA) November 1, 2022 Last week, the Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson oblast told Russian media that Russian authorities have relocated 70,000 civilians from the right bank of the Dnipro River to the left bank.
Today on Telegram, Vladimir Saldo announced that authorities would relocate “up to 70,000 residents of the left bank of the Kherson region”. He said the reason for the relocation was because of “possible damage to the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, which could cause flooding of the left bank of the Dnieper downstream”.
The estimated 70,000 will be “temporarily resettled deep into the Kherson region, as well as to other regions of the Russian Federation”.
Reminder: the act of an occupying force, relocating civilians from a territory that the force has occupied, is a violation of the Geneva conventions – whatever the purported reason behind it. There have also been reports of Russian forces relocating Ukrainian and Ukrainian children to Russian territories, with no discussion of eventual return. For this reason, media organisations such as the Kyiv Independent have been outspoken about not calling these relocations “evacuations”, as the Russian proxy government is calling them.
Crews were able to restore water and lights to the 270,000 homes in Kyiv today that had been without following a barrage of Russian missile strikes on hydroelectric plants and other critical energy and water infrastructure across Ukraine yesterday. But Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko warned on Telegram that it might be a while longer before crews will be able to restore full electricity – they must wait for the stabilisation of the energy system.
“I ask Kyiv residents to save electricity, especially during peak morning and evening hours,” Klitschko said. “It is very important. Because the deficit in the energy system of Ukraine is significant.”
The day after a barrage of Russian missiles struck hydroelectric plants and other critical energy and water infrastructure across Ukraine, leaving large swaths of Kyiv were without power or water, Kadri Simson, the European Union energy commissioner, was in the capital “to help scale up support to the Ukraine energy sector”.
I am in Kyiv today to help scale up support to the #Ukraine energy sector.
Ukrainian energy infrastructure is under targeted attack by Russia – a cruel & inhumane tactic to cause human suffering as the winter is approaching.
The 🇪🇺 stands by 🇺🇦 to help them until they prevail. pic.twitter.com/VQhAr7QWC2
— Kadri Simson (@KadriSimson) November 1, 2022 I have witnessed the scale of destruction in #Ukraine 🇺🇦 first hand & am making all efforts to increase financial, technical & practical help.
This has to come from the #EU 🇪🇺institutions, the Member States, our international partners & private donors. We have no time to waste!
— Kadri Simson (@KadriSimson) November 1, 2022 Vladimir Putin will not be issuing an executive order ending Russia’s draft, his spokesperson said today.
“So that’s that.” After “consulting with the lawyers,” Putin will *not* be issuing an executive order to end Russia’s draft, says his spokesman. Obviously, this means that the military can just start drafting men again w/o the formal fuss. (And nobody has to be brought home.)
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) November 1, 2022 Summary of the day so far … The state emergency service of Ukraine has confirmed that at least one person has been killed by a Russian strike on Mykolaiv overnight.
Russian-installed officials in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said on Monday evening they were extending an evacuation zone further from the Dnipro River. In a post on Telegram, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-backed head of the region, which is partially occupied by Russian forces, said he was extending the area covered by an order for civilians to evacuate by an additional 15km (nine miles) to include another seven settlements.
A barrage of Russian missiles had struck hydroelectric plants and other critical energy and water infrastructure across Ukraine Monday morning. Russia said it hit military and energy infrastructure targets, but Ukraine said its military facilities were not targeted.
Large parts of Kyiv were left without power or water. The Ukrainian capital’s mayor said 40% of residents did not have water, with 270,000 apartments without power as of Monday evening. On Tuesday morning, Kyiv regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said: “Despite the damage to facilities, the region has already restored power supply by 90%. Planned stabilisation outages in the region are currently under way.”
A Russian court on Tuesday fined Wikipedia owner Wikimedia Foundation 2m rubles (£28,200/$32,600) over articles relating to the Ukraine war.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on Tuesday Russia should be expelled from the Group of 20 major economies and President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to a G20 summit in Bali next month must be revoked.
Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, has urged Hungary and Turkey to swiftly approve the Swedish and Finnish applications for membership. They are the only two remaining Nato members not to have ratified the applications. “All eyes are now on Hungary and Turkey. We are waiting for these countries to ratify our applications. I think it would be important that this would happen preferably sooner than later,” Marin told a joint news conference with other Nordic leaders.
The Turkish defence minister, Hulusi Akar, has told Ukraine’s defence and infrastructure ministers that keeping the Black Sea grain export deal going is “of great importance” and that, as a humanitarian initiative, it should be kept separate from the conflict in Ukraine.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I shall be back later on. Vivian Ho will be here to guide you through the next few hours of our coverage.
The Kyiv regional governor, Oleksiy Kuleba, has given an update on the electricity situation in the region, saying that “despite the damage to facilities, the region has already restored power supply by 90%. Planned stabilisation outages in the region are currently under way.”
NewestNewestPreviousNextOldestOldestRussia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 251 of the invasion
Ukraine faces ‘winter humanitarian crisis’ with energy grid on the brink
Hanging washing over the rubble: life in Mykolaiv as Russian bombs rain down
Russian assault on Ukraine’s power grid is the strategy of nihilism
Norway puts military on raised alert level in response to Ukraine war
Ukraine ships out record tonnage of grain despite Russia spurning scheme
Russia targets Ukraine energy and water infrastructure in missile attacks
UN, Nato, EU and US call on Russia to resume Ukrainian grain deal