Heavy Russian barrage on Ukraine, no water for much of Kyiv

KYIV, Ukraine — A massive barrage of Russian cruise missile and drone strikes hit critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities early Monday, knocking out water and power supplies in apparent retaliation for what Moscow alleged was a Ukrainian attack on its Black Sea Fleet.

Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine‘s power plants and other key infrastructure as the war enters its ninth month. Large parts of Ukraine are already experiencing rolling power cuts as a result.

“The Kremlin is taking revenge for military failures on peaceful people who are left without electricity and heat before the winter,” Kyiv region Gov. Oleksii Kuleba said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces carried out “strikes with long-range, high-precision air- and sea-based weapons against the military command and energy systems of Ukraine.”

“The goals of the strikes were achieved. All designated targets were hit,” the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, 12 ships with grain left Ukrainian ports on Monday despite a Russian threat to reimpose a blockade that threatened hunger across the world, Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure said. One vessel carried Ukrainian wheat to Ethiopia, where a severe drought is affecting millions of people.

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 44 of more than 50 cruise missiles that Russia launched.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Russian missiles and drones hit 10 Ukrainian regions and damaged 18 sites, mostly energy facilities.

Hundreds of localities in seven Ukrainian regions were left without power, he said in a Facebook post, adding that “the consequences could have been much worse” if the Ukrainian forces hadn’t shot down most of the Russian missiles.

Thirteen people were wounded as a result of the morning attacks, the head of National Police, Ihor Klymenko, said on national television.

Loud explosions were heard across the Ukrainian capital as residents prepared to go to work. The emergency services sent out text message warning about the threat of a missile attack, and air raid sirens wailed for three hours during the morning commute.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 80% of consumers in the city of 3 million were left without water because of damage to a power facility. By Monday evening, workers had reduced the percentage to 40% and the number of apartments without electricity from 350,000 to 270,000. To cut power consumption, Kyiv authorities extended intervals between subway trains and replaced electric trolleybuses and trams with buses, Klitschko said. Subway service resumed Monday night.

Across Kyiv, hundreds lined up, often for more than an hour, to pump water by hand from wells to fill plastic bottles and cans.

“It has an influence on our lives, it is really inconvenient,” one 34-year-old resident, who agreed to provide only his first name, Denis, said as he collected water. “But the truth is, it’s not a problem. The problem is we have a war.”

Smoke rose from the left bank of the Dnieper River in Kyiv, either from a missile strike or where Ukrainian forces shot it down.

Associated Press reporters saw soldiers inspecting a crater and debris from where…