Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for further sanctions against Moscow following Russia's renewed missile attacks on the country's energy infrastructure. There must be more pressure on Russia, said Zelenskyj in his evening video message distributed in Kiev on Thursday. He also criticized the fact that the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which was occupied by Russia, was again temporarily cut off from the power grid by a rocket attack. "This is a critical situation," he said.
Russia can therefore no longer be a reliable partner in the nuclear sphere. "This means that the sooner Russia's nuclear industry is the target of sanctions, the safer the world will be. A terrorist state cannot be allowed to use nuclear facilities anywhere in the world for terror," said Zelenskyy, referring to Zaporizhia. The nuclear power Russia builds and operates nuclear power plants in numerous countries.
Power and heating outages after Russian missile attacks
The Ukrainian head of state accused Russia of a war against civilization. He complained that Moscow's attacks on civilian infrastructure on Thursday had caused partial power, heating and water supply failures in some regions and cities. Six people were also killed, Zelenskyj said. The situation is most difficult in Kharkiv, in the Zhytomyr region west of Kiev.
Half the city is without electricity and partly without water, said the mayor of Zhytomyr, Serhiy Sukhomlyn. In the capital Kiev, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that electricity was available everywhere in the metropolis, but that 30 percent of the apartments would have to do without central heating. Work on restoring the heating is ongoing.
"It's not easy in Odessa, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in Kiev and in Zaporizhia. Repair units, engineers, local authorities, the central services - everyone will work until the energy supply of the cities and regions is restored," Zelenskyy said. "No matter how insidious Russia's actions are, our state and people will not allow themselves to be put in chains. Neither missiles nor Russian abominations will help."
Telephone call between Selenskyj and von der Leyen
Since mid-October, Russia has repeatedly attacked power plants in Ukraine with missiles from bombers and warships, as well as drones. The destruction of the infrastructure led to hourly and daily outages of electricity, district heating and water in all parts of the country. However, the Ukrainians always managed to mend the broken network. Ukraine's western allies had also sent many power generators to the country to provide emergency and basic supplies.
Zelenskyy praised the help of the European Union in the fight for Ukraine's energy security. He also informed about a phone call with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had once again promised support for Ukraine. Accordingly, Selenskyj also called for the expansion of sanctions against Russia during the conversation. At the same time, he once again emphasized that he was expecting accession negotiations for Ukraine's EU membership to begin this year. The EU has always said that Ukraine still has a long way to go.
What is important today
Fighting for the strategically important city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region continues in eastern Ukraine. President Selenskyj wants to keep Bakhmut as a fortress to prevent the Russians from penetrating further inland.
US President Joe Biden receives EU Commission President von der Leyen in the White House on Friday (8:00 p.m. CET) for talks on support for Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia.
French Head of State Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also want to discuss strengthening cooperation on arms deliveries to Ukraine and the training of Ukrainian soldiers with members of both governments at a joint summit in Paris this morning.
