Aviation alerts sounded across Ukraine and officials urged citizens to take shelter from what they said were the latest waves of Russian missiles since its February 24 invasion. “The missiles have already been fired,” Air Force spokesman Yuri Ikhnat said. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, but officials were quoted by Ukrainian media as hearing explosions overhead in some areas as air defense systems went into action. Russian forces have increasingly targeted Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks as they have faced setbacks on the battlefield, causing major power outages as winter sets in. “Do not ignore the alarm,” said Andriy Yermak, Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff. What questions do you have about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Send an email to [email protected] Russian rockets struck buildings in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region on Monday, destroying several homes and killing at least two people, a senior Ukrainian official said. Kirill Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential office, did not elaborate on the attacks. A city official said buildings were hit on the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhzhia and some Russian missiles were shot down. The governor of the Kyiv region said air defenses were operating in the area and told residents to stay in shelters. An energy provider said electricity had been cut in the northern region of Sumi in the latest rocket attacks. WATCH l The city of Donbas has faced a months-long Russian campaign:
Bakhmut, Ukraine becomes the center of violent, fierce fighting
The Ukrainian town of Bakhmut has been at the center of relentless Russian attacks for almost six months, producing harrowing scenes of dead soldiers in trenches. As winter sets in, Russian troops launch an aggressive counterattack to retake the city. Russia said the attacks were designed to degrade Ukraine’s military. Ukraine says they clearly target civilians and therefore constitute a war crime. Ukraine only returned to scheduled blackouts from Monday rather than the emergency blackouts it suffered after widespread Russian strikes on November 23, the worst of attacks on energy infrastructure that began in early October.
Russia calls a foul
A price ceiling of US$60 per barrel for Russian offshore crude went into effect on Monday. G7 nations and Australia agreed to it on Friday after European Union member Poland, which wanted it even lower, withdrew its objections. Russia is the second largest oil exporter in the world. The agreement allows Russian oil to be transported to third countries using G7 and EU tankers, insurance companies and credit institutions, only if the cargo is purchased at or below the ceiling of $60 per barrel. Crude oil tankers, including the Troitsky Bridge ship, are moored in Nakhodka Bay near the port city of Nakhodka, Russia, on Sunday. Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, the US and the 27-nation European Union agreed on Friday to cap at $60 a barrel what they would pay for Russian crude shipped by sea. (Tatiana Meel/Reuters) “It took a long time to get here – but this is arguably one of the strongest responses [Vladimir] Putin’s war in Ukraine,” tweeted Simone Tagliapietra, an energy policy expert at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels. Moscow has said it will not abide by the measure, even if it has to cut output, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said $60 was too high to stop Russia’s onslaught. The Sunday Magazine11:25 A children’s war diary On the morning of February 24, Yeva Skalietska was awakened by a loud, metallic bang. The 12-year-old girl from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv rushed to a makeshift bomb shelter with her grandmother, hiding from Russian missile attacks and writing about the experience in her diary. Now, almost 10 months after the war in Ukraine, Skalietska and her grandmother live in Dublin and her diary is published for the public to read. Skalietska meets Piya Chattopadhyay to talk about the fear, anxiety and small moments of comfort she documented in her book, You Don’t Know What War Is. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who is in charge of energy affairs, warned in televised remarks on Sunday that Russia would not sell its oil to countries trying to implement the price cap. “We will sell oil and oil products only to countries that will cooperate with us on market terms, even if we have to cut production to some extent,” Novak said in televised remarks hours before the price cap took effect .
India is not bound by the cap
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that it was “obvious and indisputable that the adoption of these decisions is a step towards destabilizing global energy markets.” India has so far not committed to the price ceiling. While hosting Germany’s foreign minister on Monday, the country’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam said it was not right for European countries to prioritize their energy needs but “ask India to do something else”. India and Russia have close relations and New Delhi has not supported Western sanctions on Moscow, even though it has repeatedly called for an “immediate cessation of violence” in Ukraine. India, also a major market for Russian-made weapons, has so far abstained from UN resolutions criticizing Moscow’s war.
