Strikes On Ukrainian Power Grid Were In Response To Crimea Attack: Putin

President Vladimir Putin said Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and a decision to freeze participation in a Black Sea grain export programme were responses to a drone attack on Moscow's...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia's strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and the decision to freeze participation in the Black Sea grain export program were in response to a drone attack on Moscow's fleet in Crimea that he blamed on Ukraine.

Putin told a news conference on Monday that Ukrainian drones had used the same sea lanes that grain ships had crossed under a UN-brokered deal.

Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack and denies using the security corridor of the grain program for military purposes.

The United Nations said grain ships were not using the Black Sea route on Saturday when Russia said its ships in Crimea were attacked.

Meanwhile, on the 250th day of the war that has lasted since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russian missiles rained down across the country. Explosions erupted in Kyiv,

Sending black smoke to the sky.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a Facebook statement that Russian forces bombed infrastructure in at least six Ukrainian regions on Monday.

"This is not all we could have done," Putin said at the televised press conference, indicating that further measures could follow.

Ukrainian officials said energy infrastructure, including hydroelectric dams, was damaged, cutting off electricity, heating and water supply.

Ole Sinihopov, the governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, said on Telegram that about 140,000 residents had no electricity after the attacks, including about 50,000 residents of the city of Kharkiv.

The second largest city in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military said it had shot down 44 of the 50 Russian missiles. But the authorities said the strikes had left 80% of Kyiv without running water. Ukrainian police said 13 people were wounded in the recent attacks.

Over the past three weeks, Russia has attacked Ukrainian civilian infrastructure using-

Range missiles and cheap Iranian-made suicide planes that fly on a target and explode

.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyal said 18 targets, mostly energy infrastructure, were hit in missile and drone strikes on 10 Ukrainian regions on Monday.

Wheat price jump

Moscow announced, on Saturday, the suspension of its role in the grain program after accusing Ukraine of using air and sea drones to target ships in the Gulf of Sevastopol.

She noted that one of the drones may have been launched from a civilian ship chartered to export food from Ukrainian ports.

"Ukraine must ensure that there are no threats to Russian civilian or supply ships," Putin said on Monday, noting that under the terms of the grain deal, Russia is responsible for ensuring security.

Ukrainian and United Nations officials said 12 ships carrying grain set sail from Ukrainian ports on Monday despite Moscow's move.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would continue to implement the program brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July aimed at alleviating world hunger.

"We understand what we offer the world," Zelensky told a news conference.

We provide stability in the food production market."

He said earlier that Moscow was "blackmailing the world with hunger". Russia denies this is its goal.

The US State Department said on Monday that food prices had risen due to uncertainty over the Black Sea grain deal and that Russia's suspension of its participation had "immediate and adverse" effects on global food security.

News of Moscow's withdrawal from the deal sent global wheat prices up more than 5% on Monday morning.

However, the constant flow of grain exports from Ukrainian ports indicates that a new global food crisis has been averted for the time being.

Ukraine and Russia are the world's largest food exporters. For three months, U . has been

The deal backed by N.

Among the ships that set sail on Monday was a ship chartered by the United Nations World Food Program to bring 40,000 tonnes of grain to drought-stricken Africa.

also on monday,

The Russian Defense Ministry said Moscow had completed the partial military mobilization announced by Putin in September, and no further recall notices would be issued.

Putin announced Russia's first mobilization since World War II on September 21, in one of a series of escalatory measures in response to Ukrainian battlefield gains.

BY
ProBuzzFeed