Russia Strikes Ukrainian Infrastructure Again As UN Warns Of Serious Humanitarian Crisis
According to RFE/RL, Russian forces keep pounding critical power infrastructure in Ukrainian cities, killing more civilians and leaving tens of thousands of more people without electricity, as its troops step up the pace of their relentless attacks along the entire front line in the east.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on December 15 that further strikes on Ukraine's infrastructure could lead to a serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation and spark further displacement.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian military said on December 15 that Russian artillery fire was concentrated on Bakhmut and Avdiyivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, as Moscow is seeking to stabilize its tactical positions around Kupyansk in the eastern Kharkiv region and Zaporizhzhya in the southeast.
The recently liberated southern city of Kherson was left completely without power following Russian shelling that also killed at least two people on December 15, according to the head of the Kherson regional military administration, Yaroslav Yanushevych.
The shelling of Kherson region injured nine people, Yanushevych said. Russian troops attacked the center of Kherson city for the second day in a row, he said, adding that among the victims is a volunteer from an international organization who helped people during the shelling.
Russian forces also targeted critical infrastructure in the eastern city of Kharkiv on December 15, causing several explosions, the mayor said.
"Explosions in Kharkiv. The enemy is targeting infrastructure facilities. I am asking everyone to exercise utmost caution and stay in shelters if possible," Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
In a speech to the Human Rights Council in Geneva following a trip to Ukraine last week, Turk said on December 15 that Russian strikes were exposing millions of people to "extreme hardship."
"Additional strikes could lead to a further serious deterioration in the humanitarian situation and spark more displacement," Turk said. He called the war an "unmitigated tragedy and disaster."
Turk's remarks came as he formally presented a report which found that Russian forces killed at least 441 civilians in the early days of the invasion. Moscow has denied targeting civilians.
Turk said accountability for such incidents was "sorely lacking," adding that not a single member of Russia's armed forces was known to have been held accountable by Moscow for carrying out, or failing to prevent, these killings.
As Moscow kept up the unabated pressure on the whole front line and continued to target civilian areas, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned on December 14 that Russia's capability to launch a "major offensive may be restored" by the end of January or February.
"They definitely still hope that they will be able to break through our lines and advance deeper into Ukraine," Kuleba told foreign journalists in a bomb shelter in Kyiv, according to CNN.
