By Max Hunder and Jonathan Landay
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine vowed to strengthen its armed forces after Russia launched its biggest aerial assaults on cities because the starting of the war, forcing hundreds to flee to bomb shelters and prompting Kyiv to halt electricity exports to Europe.
Missiles hit targets across Ukraine on Monday morning, killing 14 people and injuring scores, as they tore into intersections, parks and tourist sites.
Explosions were reported in Kyiv, Lviv, Ternopil and Zhytomyr in western Ukraine, Dnipro and Kremenchuk within the centre, Zaporizhzhia within the south and Kharkiv within the east, Ukrainian officials said.
The barrage of dozens of cruise missiles fired from air, land and sea was essentially the most widespread wave of air strikes to hit away from the front line, at the least because the initial volleys on the war’s first day, Feb. 24.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said he ordered “massive” long-range strikes after accusing Ukraine of an attack on a bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea on Saturday, but america said the size of the attacks meant that they had likely been planned for longer.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke to U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday and wrote on Telegram afterwards that air defence was the “#1 priority in our defence cooperation.”
“We’ll do every thing to strengthen our armed forces,” he said in a Monday night address. “We’ll make the battlefield more painful for the enemy.”
Biden told Zelenskiy america will provide advanced air defence systems. The Pentagon said on Sept. 27 it will start delivering the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System over the subsequent two months or so.
A complete of 14 people were killed and 97 were injured, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported. The frenzy-hour attacks were deliberately timed to kill people and knock out Ukraine’s power grid, based on Zelenskiy.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal reported 11 major infrastructure targets were hit in eight regions, leaving parts of Ukraine with no electricity, water or heat. He promised to revive utilities as quickly as possible.
Because it tried to finish blackouts, Ukraine halted electricity exports to the European Union, at a time when the continent already faces surging power prices which have stoked inflation, hampered industrial activity and caused sky-high consumer bills.
The Kremlin’s air strikes come three days after a blast damaged the bridge it built after seizing Crimea in 2014. Russia blamed Ukraine and called the deadly explosion “terrorism”.
“To depart such acts and not using a response is just not possible,” said Putin, alleging other, unspecified attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. He threatened more strikes in future if Ukraine hits Russian territory.
America, nevertheless, said attacks of such a scale couldn’t have been put together in only a few days.
“It likely was something that that they had been planning for quite a while,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told CNN. “That is to not say that the explosion on the Crimea bridge might need accelerated a few of their planning.”
Ukraine, which views the bridge as a military goal sustaining Russia’s war effort, celebrated the blast without claiming responsibility.
After weeks of setbacks on the battlefield, Russian authorities are facing the primary sustained domestic criticism of the war, with commentators on state television demanding ever tougher measures.
Putin responded to Ukrainian advances by ordering a mobilisation of tons of of hundreds of reservists, proclaiming the annexation of occupied territory and threatening to make use of nuclear weapons.
On Saturday, Russia made its third senior military appointment within the space of per week by appointing Air Force General Sergei Surovikin as commander of Russian forces in Ukraine. He previously commanded Russia’s brutal air campaign in Syria.
Russia says it’s waging a “special military operation” in Ukraine to rid it of nationalists and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and the West say it’s an unprovoked war of aggression.
Monday’s blasts tore an enormous crater next to a kid’s playground in one in every of central Kyiv’s busiest parks. The stays of an apparent missile were buried, smoking within the mud. More volleys struck the capital again later within the morning.
Ukraine’s defence ministry said in its evening update Russia had staged at the least 84 missile and air strikes, and Ukraine’s air defences had destroyed 43 cruise missiles and 13 drones.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had hit all its intended targets. Reuters couldn’t independently confirm battlefield accounts.
Russia also suffered a setback on the diplomatic front, with the UN General Assembly voting to reject Moscow’s call for the 193-member body to carry a secret ballot later this week on whether to sentence its annexations 4 partially occupied regions in Ukraine.
The General Assembly decided, with 107 votes in favor, that it will hold a public vote – not a secret ballot.
The president of the United Arab Emirates, a member of the group of oil producers referred to as OPEC+ that rebuffed america last week by announcing steep cuts last week, will travel to Russia on Tuesday to satisfy Putin and push for “military de-escalation”, UAE state news agency WAM reported.
Biden and Group of Seven leaders will hold a virtual meeting on Tuesday to debate their commitment to support Ukraine, the White House said.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; writing by Costas Pitas; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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