War in Ukraine: what to remember on the 273rd day of the Russian invasion

The Ukrainian capital, kyiv, was without water or electricity on Wednesday after new Russian strikes which also affected other cities in the country and caused power cuts to neighboring Moldova. “Russian terrorists are trying to destroy Ukraine’s energy supply facilities. Today, explosions were recorded in various regions of the country,” Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidency Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram.

“A two-story building was damaged. Three people died and six were injured,” the Kyiv regional administration said on Telegram, without giving further details.

Emmanuel Macron announces that he will soon have “direct contact” with Putin

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that he would have “direct contact” with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “in the coming days” on civilian nuclear power and the Zaporizhia power plant, which Moscow and kyiv accuse each other of having bombarded.

“I intend to have direct contact with him in the coming days on civilian nuclear matters first and foremost and the Zaporijjia power plant, after an exchange” with the director general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, said the French president to the press during a visit to the Salon des Maires at the Parc des Expositions in Paris.

On the Russian side, “for the time being, there is no agreement on a telephone interview with the French president. Frankly, there has been no concrete proposal on this subject”, declared to the press the door- speech of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, at the end of the summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Yerevan.

The Kremlin says it has no doubts about the “success” of its offensive

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it had no doubts about the “success” of its military offensive in Ukraine, when kyiv denounced massive Russian strikes on strategic Ukrainian infrastructure. “The future and success of the special military operation are not in doubt,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters after the Collective Security Treaty Organization summit. (OTSC) in Yerevan, the Armenian capital.

If Dmitry Peskov was not questioned during his press conference on Wednesday’s vote by the European Parliament on a text qualifying Russia as a “State promoter of terrorism” in the conflict in Ukraine, calling on the 27 countries to the European Union to do the same, the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, reacted to it on Telegram.

She suggested describing “the European Parliament as a promoter of idiocy”.

An appeal for donations of electric generators launched by Ukraine in the European Parliament

European cities were called on Wednesday in the European Parliament to donate electric generators to Ukraine, which is suffering massive power cuts due to Russian attacks on infrastructure.

“Ukrainians now need material support to get through the winter”, insisted, during a press conference in Strasbourg, the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, seeing in this initiative called “Generators of hope”. , a “new layer of practical aid” to Ukraine at the onset of winter.

According to the mayor of Florence and president of the network of large European cities Eurocities, Dario Nardella, who spoke by videoconference, there is in reserve in the municipalities of the continent a “potential of several hundred generators, even of industrial size , which could produce a lot of electricity”.

Three Ukrainian nuclear power plants ‘disconnected’ from the electricity grid after Russian strikes

Three Ukrainian nuclear power plants were “disconnected” from the electricity grid on Wednesday after Russian strikes targeted energy infrastructure and caused massive power outages, the national operator, Energoatom, announced.

“Due to a drop in frequency in the Ukrainian energy system, the emergency protection system was activated at the Rivne, Pivdennoukrainsk and Khmelnitsky nuclear power plants, which led to the automatic disconnection of all generating units” , Energoatom said on Telegram.

According to the Ukrainian operator, “(the level) of radiation at the sites and adjacent territories has not changed” and “all indicators are normal”. “As soon as the operation of the electrical system is normalized, the supply of electricity from the nuclear power plant will resume,” Energoatom said.

An affected infrastructure site in Kyiv

The mayor of kyiv, Vitaly Klitschko, indicated for his part that an “infrastructure site” was affected, announcing that the water supply had been “suspended throughout kyiv” because of the strikes. The regional governor, Oleksiï Kouleba, announced to him that “the whole region is without light”. Ukrainian private operator DTEK confirmed on Telegram that “emergency power cuts” had been put in place in Kyiv to try to “stabilize the situation as soon as possible”.

Earlier, AFP journalists had heard several explosions in the capital. In Lviv, western Ukraine, two Russian missile strikes hit an electrical substation causing power outages in two neighborhoods, according to Governor Maxim Kozytsky.

The last major strikes on kyiv date back to November 17, when the Russian army bombed several cities, including the capital, leaving more than ten million Ukrainians without power, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Another direct consequence of these Russian strikes, Moldova, already plagued by major energy problems caused by the war in Ukraine, was the victim on Wednesday of “massive power outages” following the Russian strikes, according to its deputy. Prime Minister, Andrei Spinu.

Russia “state promoter of terrorism”, for the European Parliament

The European Parliament on Wednesday called Russia a “State promoter of terrorism”, in a vote carried out almost nine months to the day after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This vote was quickly “welcomed” by President Zelensky for whom “Russia must be isolated at all levels and held responsible in order to put an end to its long-standing terrorist policy in Ukraine and throughout the world”.

The head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba said Wednesday’s strikes proved that Russia should “be recognized as a terrorist state throughout the world”. The spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, for her part castigated the decision of the European Parliament, describing it as “idiotic”.

Newborn baby killed in strike on maternity hospital

Elsewhere in Ukraine, a newborn baby was killed overnight in a Russian Russian strike on a maternity hospital in Vilniansk, in the Zaporijjia region (south), 45 km from the front. “A two-story building housing a maternity ward was destroyed by a missile attack,” the emergency service said on Telegram. Following this attack, a baby “born two days ago” died, this service told AFP, stressing that his mother and the doctor, also present, could “be saved from the rubble”.

“The enemy has once again decided to try to accomplish by terror and murder what it could not accomplish in nine months” of its invasion of Ukraine, lambasted Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram . A total of 39 people were in the maternity ward, but “in another place” at the time of the strike, relief workers told AFP.

Prisoner exchanges continue

Despite still violent fighting, particularly in the east, Moscow and kyiv continue to exchange prisoners of war. “Another exchange took place today with kyiv according to the formula 35 for 35,” said Wednesday a senior leader of the Russian occupation authority, Denis Pushilin. Following multiple searches of Ukrainian monasteries suspected of having links with Moscow, including the largest in kyiv, the security services (SBU) said on Wednesday they had seized cash and “pro-Russian literature”.

In total, “more than 350 religious buildings and 850 people were thoroughly checked”, of which “more than 50” “underwent in-depth counterintelligence interviews”, the SBU said in a statement on Wednesday.

For its part, London announced that a first Sea King helicopter had been sent to Ukraine and plans to provide two more. British Defense Minister Ben Wallace, traveling to Norway to discuss military support for Ukraine with his allies, also said London would send 10,000 additional artillery munitions to kyiv.