Russia attacks critical infrastructure in Kyiv and other key Ukrainian cities

Russia’s fresh barrage of missile strikes in Ukraine on Monday hit key infrastructure facilities in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

“Electric substations, hydropower and heat generation facilities were hit by rocket fire” on Monday morning, said Ukrainian energy minister Herman Halushchenko on Facebook, describing it as a “barbaric attack.”

There was a partial blackout in many regions, he said, adding that emergency power outage schedules were introduced for consumers in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv and Poltava regions. 

Without Russia guaranteeing navigation safety, continuing the Black Sea grain deal “is hardly feasible,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday on a regular call with reporters, calling such a scenario “much more risky” and “dangerous.”

At the moment, Russia continues grain contacts with the Turkish side, as well as with the UN, through diplomatic channels, Peskov added.

Remember: Russia announced it will suspend its participation in the United Nations-brokered grain export deal with Ukraine “for an indefinite period of time” after Moscow blamed Kyiv for the drone attacks on the Crimean city of Sevastopol. CNN cannot independently verify Russia’s report. A top Ukrainian official on Saturday accused Russia of inventing “fictitious terrorist attacks” on its own facilities in Crimea and also blamed Moscow of “blackmail.” The deal is set to expire next month, and Moscow officials have cast doubt on whether they will extend their participation.

Asked about Russia’s conditions for resuming the deal, Kremlin spokesperson Peskov declined to comment on Monday.

Meanwhile, 12 vessels left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Monday despite Russia’s withdrawal.

Commercial vessels, including vessels which are part of Black Sea grain deal, wait to pass the Bosphorus strait off the shores of Yenikapi in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 31.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar plans to talk with his Russian counterpart on Monday, following Moscow’s decision to withdraw from the United Nations-brokered grain export deal with Ukraine.

Akar will hold discussions with Ukrainian authorities as well as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday evening, the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“Suspending this initiative will not benefit Russia, Ukraine or anyone else. We are continuing our discussions with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and the Minister of Defense of Russia. We will talk to them and try to ensure that this initiative continues.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an audience earlier on Monday that Ankara is determined to try and keep the Black Sea grain initiative alive, despite Moscow’s withdrawal.

Turkey and the UN negotiated the deal in July to help alleviate the effects of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine on a worsening global food crisis, with Western officials accusing Moscow of using food as a weapon in the war.

At least 10 Russian missiles were shot down over Kyiv early on Monday, according to a local official.

“The police of the Kyiv region are now discovering debris from downed rockets of the occupiers in various areas of the region,” regional police chief Andrii Nebytov said on Telegram.

“Air defence forces shot down at least 10 enemy missiles.”

Oleksii Kuleba, head of Kyiv region military administration, said the strikes “hit critical infrastructure targets” and two people had been injured – one seriously.

Moscow launched renewed strikes targeting critical energy facilities in Ukraine on Monday, disrupting power access across the country.

The missiles that rained down on Ukraine on Monday morning were launched from Soviet-era Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers that took off from Russia’s Rostov region and over the Caspian Sea, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force said on TV.

There had been “several waves of missile launches,” said Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces, repeating the claim that Ukraine had shot down “a really high percentage” – 44 – of the more than 50 missiles fired.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces targeted Ukraine’s “military command and energy systems” in strikes on Monday.

“The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continued strikes with high-precision long-range air and sea-based weapons against Ukraine’s military command and energy systems,” the ministry said on Monday. “All assigned objects have been hit.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government said that Russia’s targets had been energy infrastructure and “not military facilities,” adding that a large number of missiles had been intercepted.

A fresh round of missile strikes launched by Moscow hit infrastructure in major cities across Ukraine on Monday and disrupted residents’ access to power and water.

Smoke rises after a missile strike near a power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on October 31.

Moscow’s fresh wave of strikes on Ukraine Monday hit 10 regions and damaged 18 facilities, “most of them energy-related,” according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

“Their target was not military facilities, but civilian critical infrastructure,” Shmyhal said on Telegram.

“Hundreds of settlements in seven regions” had lost power and engineers were “working at full capacity” to repair the damage, he added.

Emergency power outages were ongoing in the regions of Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv, Shmyhal said.

The recent shelling has damaged critical infrastructure in major cities across the country, disrupting power and water to Ukrainian residents as the country gears up for the winter season.

Houses were damaged after a shot-down Russian missile fell on the Moldovan border village of Naslavcea on October 31.

The windows of several houses in a Moldovan village were broken after a Russian missile shot down by Ukrainian forces crossed the border, according to Moldova’s interior ministry.

“This morning, a missile shot down by the Ukrainian anti-aircraft system fell in the northern end of the village of Naslavcea in the Republic of Moldova,” the ministry said in a statement.

Naslavcea is located in northern Moldova, on the border with Ukraine. A government taskforce is on the scene and all protective measures have been taken following the incident, according to the statement.

The ministry said the Ukrainian side informed them Monday morning that there was a drone attack on the Dniester Hydroelectric Station – which is on the territory of Ukraine and at a distance of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the Naslavcea dam – targeting energy infrastructure.

“Ukrainian authorities announce that there is no danger of flooding,” the statement continued.

On Monday morning, a series of Russian missile attacks were launched on key infrastructure across Ukraine, leaving parts of the capital, Kyiv, without electricity and water.

More areas of Kyiv will have their water supply restored within hours, according to the city’s mayor, after it was halted by Monday’s Russian attacks.

“We will return the water supply to the consumers of the east bank of Kyiv and partially the west bank in three to four hours,” Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

He added that power to the Desnianskyi district on Kyiv’s east bank has been “partially restored.”

A spate of missile strikes from Russia hit critical infrastructure on Monday, directly impacting Ukrainian residents’ ability to access power, water and the internet.

A Russian missile struck an industrial enterprise in Kryvyi Rih, in the Dnipropetrovsk region of central Ukraine, on Monday, according to the city’s mayor.

“During the morning missile attack, two missiles were shot down (thanks to the Air Defense Forces), and one cruise missile hit an industrial enterprise,” Oleksandr Vilkul said on Telegram.

There were no casualties reported.

The Kremlin launched renewed strikes targeting key infrastructure in major Ukrainian cities on Monday, disrupting power supplies across the country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the Organization of Turkic States session in Istanbul on October 31.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara is determined to try and keep the Black Sea grain initiative alive, despite Moscow’s withdrawal from the agreement.

“One third of the world’s wheat is produced by Russia and Ukraine. You are the closest witnesses of our efforts to deliver this wheat to the countries facing the threat of famine,” Erdogan told an audience at the 8th Turkish Medicine Congress in Istanbul on Monday.

“We provided 9.3 million tons of Ukrainian wheat to the world and helped to relatively ease food crisis by founding the Joint Coordination Center. Although Russia is hesitant in this regard, because they are not provided with the same facilitation, we will continue our efforts with determination for the service of humanity,” he added.

The Turkish leader’s statement came after Russia announced on Saturday it will suspend its participation in the United Nations-brokered grain export deal with Ukraine, after alleging drone attacks on the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

Twelve vessels left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Monday despite Russia’s departure from the deal, Oleksandr Kubrakov, the Minister of Infrastructure, tweeted.

Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has been linked to a worsening global food crisis.

The World Food Programme estimated that tens of millions of people moved into a stage of acute hunger as a consequence of the Ukraine war, while Western officials have accused Russia of using food as a weapon during its invasion.

Smoke rises on the outskirts of Kyiv during a Russian missile attack on October 31.

The mayor of Kyiv has called on residents to stow away water from stores and pumping stations, after a Russian attack on a nearby power facility left a large percentage of the capital’s population without water on Monday. 

“Just in case, we ask you to stock up on water from the nearest pumps and points of sale. Specialists are doing everything possible to return water to the apartments of Kyiv residents.”

A water supply company based in the capital has published a map showing the locations of pumps that are still operational.

Moscow targeted a fresh wave of missile strikes at critical infrastructure in major Ukrainian cities on Monday, also disrupting power supplies across the country.

The dozen vessels that left Ukrainian ports carrying food on Monday contained 354,500 tons of grain and other agricultural products, according to the country’s Ministry of Infrastructure.

“12 ships with 354.5 thousand tons of agricultural products left the Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi sea ports today for the needs of Africa, Asia, and Europe,” the ministry said on Facebook, noting that one vessel – the Ikaria Angel – was chartered by the UN’s World Food Programme and destined for Ethiopia.

The post said that UN and Turkish representatives were continuing to negotiate with Moscow “for the full implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” after Russia withdrew from the UN-brokered deal on Saturday.

Russian attacks on Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv have disrupted residents’ water supply and halted most subway train services, according to its mayor, amid a fresh round of missile strikes targeting key Ukrainian infrastructure Monday.

“The blow fell on a critical infrastructure facility, resulting in the subway and ground electric transport being de-energized,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov, said on Telegram.

“At the moment, we have managed to launch the Kholodnohirsko-Zavodska (subway) line, and we have replaced trolleybuses and trams with buses.”

Engineers are working to resume water supply to the homes of local residents, Terekhov added.

Commercial vessels, including vessels which are part of Black Sea grain deal, wait to pass the Bosphorus Strait off Istanbul, Turkey, on October 31.

Twelve vessels left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Monday, despite Russia withdrawing from the UN-brokered grain deal at the weekend, a Ukrainian official said.

Oleksandr Kubrakov, the country’s infrastructure minister, said the UN and Turkey would inspect the ships – a process that takes place near the Turkish city of Istanbul. Moscow had been informed, he added.

“Today 12 (ship)s left (Ukrainian) ports. @UN & (Turkish) delegations provide 10 inspection teams to inspect 40 (ship)s aiming to fulfill the #BlackSeaGrainInitiative. This inspection plan has been accepted by the (Ukrainian) delegation,” Kubrakov tweeted.

One of the ships that set sail on Monday was loaded with 40,000 tons of grain, destined for Ethiopia, he added.

The minister said that four vessels were also en route to Ukraine after being inspected in the Bosphorus Strait on Sunday, by a team that included representatives from the UN, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia.

His update followed an announcement from the UN Sunday that 12 vessels would leave Ukraine through the maritime corridor on October 31.

The Kremlin announced Saturday it would halt its participation in the grain export deal with Kyiv after drone attacks on the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

Russia’s decision to pull out of the agreement prompted concern from Western officials, after the World Food Programme estimated that tens of millions of people moved into a stage of acute hunger as a consequence of the Ukraine war.

People check their phones as they shelter inside a metro station during shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, on October 31.

Russian forces launched “more than 50 cruise missiles against Ukraine” and 44 of them were intercepted, Ukraine’s air force said in a Telegram post Monday.

“At 7:00 a.m. on October 31, the Russian occupiers launched several waves of missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities in Ukraine,” the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said. 

“More than 50 X-101/X-555 cruise missiles were launched from the Tu-95/Tu-160 strategic aviation missile-carrying aircraft north of the Caspian Sea and the Volgodonsk region (Rostov region).”

A wave of Russian strikes hit critical infrastructure in Kyiv and cities across Ukraine on Monday. 

The air force added that it had destroyed 44 cruise missiles.

An attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv this morning hit an energy facility that powered 350,000 apartments in the capital, mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. 

“Energy workers are working on restoring power supply after a facility powering 350,000 apartments has been damaged,” he said.

Emergency services as well as specialists from DTEK, the country’s largest private energy company, and Ukrainian energy operator Ukrenergo were “doing their best to stabilize the situation as soon as possible,” Klitschko added.

Explosions were heard in Kyiv early on Monday, according to CNN teams on the ground. Parts of the city are without electricity and water, following power outages caused by Russian attacks over the weekend which officials say would take weeks to repair.

Ukrainian Railways said that 80% of their trains were continuing to run as scheduled, despite a wave of attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure Monday morning. 

The company said reserve diesel locomotives were being brought out and that all trains would continue to run.  

Some trains departing from the capital Kyiv however have been delayed, the company said, including routes from the capital to Dnipro, Uzhhorod, and Kramatorsk. 

Strikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure were reported across the country Monday, including in the central regions of Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Kirovohrad, the eastern region of Kharkiv, and the southern region of Zaphorizhzhia. 

Russian rocket attacks hit critical infrastructure facilities in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Monday, Ukrainian officials said.

“Today, at approximately 8:00 a.m., the enemy launched rocket attacks on Zaporizhzhia,” said head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration Oleksandr Starukh on Telegram.

No casualties have been reported and emergency services are at the scene of the attacks, he added.

Starukh said the rockets were believed to have been launched from aircraft and power outages and more strikes were possible.

Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press-conference in Kyiv on October 26.

Ukrainian forces fought off a “fierce assault” by Russian troops in the eastern city of Donetsk on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily televised briefing. 

Russian troops have continued a months-long attempt to seize strategically important parts of Ukraine’s east, including the city of Bakhmut, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the region.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk region military administration, said five people were killed in Donetsk on Sunday — four in Bakhmut and one in Sviatohirsk. Two others were injured, he said on Telegram on Monday.

Parts of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv are without electricity and water after critical infrastructure facilities were hit, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram Monday. 

Explosions were heard in Kyiv early on Monday, according to CNN teams in the city.

Power outages caused by Russian attacks continued in Kyiv over the weekend. Klitschko said earlier it will take weeks to repair electrical systems.

Russian missiles struck key infrastructure facilities in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and the central region of Cherkasy, Ukrainian officials said Monday. 

Kharkiv’s Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that two missiles hit a critical infrastructure facility in the city. 

Parts of the Cherkasy region have lost power after a critical infrastructure facility was hit, regional military administration head Ihor Taburets said.

Some context: Ukrainian officials believe Russia’s countrywide drone and cruise missile attacks are being carefully orchestrated to target important infrastructure as Ukraine heads into winter. By hitting thermal power stations, electricity sub-stations, transformers and pipelines, Russian forces have been directly impacting Ukrainians’ ability to access power, water and the internet.

Explosions were heard in Kyiv early on Monday morning, according to CNN teams in the Ukrainian capital.

Air raid sirens also sounded across the city, the Kyiv Regional State Administration said on Telegram. Air defense systems were working and people have been asked to stay indoors in shelters and other safe places, the administration added.

It comes after a week of power outages in the capital and other parts of Ukraine caused by Russian attacks on the country’s power infrastructure.

The United Nations, Ukraine and Turkey have agreed to move 16 vessels on Monday under the Black Sea grain agreement, the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul said on Sunday evening.

The plan comes a day after Russia announced the decision to suspend its participation in the UN-brokered grain export deal with Ukraine after drone attacks on the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

The UN delegation, in its capacity as JCC Secretariat, “has informed the delegation of the Russian Federation on the movements in accordance with the JCC established procedures. As per JCC procedures, all participants coordinate with their respective military and other relevant authorities to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels under the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the JCC said in a statement.

The JCC said it had not yet received a response from Russia to the plan for Monday, which includes the passage of 12 outbound and four inbound ships. 

The head of the United States Agency for International Development urged Russia to continue its participation in the United Nations-brokered Black Sea grain deal, writing that “the world cannot afford for Putin to continue to use food as a weapon of war.”

“Russia’s comments about suspending its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative are regrettable. This life-saving agreement between Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey, brokered in July by the United Nations, has allowed the export of more than nine million metric tons of grain and other food products to populations around the world in the midst of a devastating global food crisis,” USAID Administrator Samantha Power wrote in a statement Sunday.

She touted the “tremendous success” of the deal so far, crediting it with lowering global food prices and providing relief to those “most vulnerable to severe hunger.”

“The United States and our allies and partners remain clear: the Black Sea Grain Initiative must continue and be extended. Any attempt to undermine the agreement is an attack on hungry families around the world whose lives and livelihoods are dependent on this initiative,” Power wrote.

Remember: Moscow announced it was leaving the grain deal after blaming Ukraine for a drone attack on Crimea Saturday. Kyiv has accused Russia of inventing “fictitious terrorist attacks” and using the deal as “blackmail.”

Russia is blocking grain that would feed more than 7 million people on a “false pretext,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

“By suspending its participation in the grain deal on a false pretext of explosions 220 kilometers away from the grain corridor, Russia blocks 2 million tons of grain on 176 vessels already at sea — enough to feed over 7 million people,” Kuleba tweeted Sunday. 

On Saturday, Russia announced it would suspend its participation in the United Nations-brokered grain export deal with Ukraine after drone attacks on the Crimean city of Sevastopol. 

“The current queue with grain has accumulated in the Black Sea since September, when Russia started deliberately delaying the functioning of the corridor and seeking to undermine the deal. Russia took the decision to resume its hunger games long ago and now tries to justify it,” Kuleba said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the decision of Russia to suspend its participation from the grain export deal with Ukraine “deliberate” and “a rather predictable statement” in his nightly address Saturday.

“This is not the decision they made today,” Zelensky said. “Russia began deliberately exacerbating the food crisis back in September, when it blocked the movement of ships with our food.”

That echoes previous charges he’s made about Russian interference with the program before Moscow officially backed out.

“How can Russia be among the others in the G20 if it is deliberately working to ensure starvation on several continents? This is nonsense. Russia has no place in the ‘twenty,’” Zelensky added.

Zelensky called on “a strong international reaction” to Russia’s suspension from the grain deal, in particular from the UN and the G20.

Russia will suspend its participation in the United Nations-brokered grain export deal with Ukraine after drone attacks on the Crimean city of Sevastopol, the country’s defense ministry announced Saturday.

Moscow blames Kyiv for the attacks. CNN cannot independently verify Russia’s report.

A top Ukrainian official on Saturday accused Russia of inventing “fictitious terrorist attacks” on its own facilities in Crimea and also blamed Moscow of “blackmail.”

The Russian foreign ministry said the country has suspended its participation for an “indefinite period of time.”

“Taking into account the act of terrorism committed by the Kyiv regime with the participation of British experts on October 29 this year against the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civil vessels involved in the security of the ‘grain corridor,’ the Russian side suspends its participation in the implementation of the agreements on the export of agricultural products from the Ukrainian ports,” the Russian defense ministry added in a statement.

The United Kingdom has denied Moscow’s claim that Britain helped Ukraine plan the Crimean drone attacks, saying Russia is “peddling false claims of an epic scale.”

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