https://www.dw.com-The Ukrainian capital is bracing itself for its worst winter in more than three-quarters of a century. Meanwhile, an infant has died after a Russian missile hit a hospital in Zaporizhzhya. DW has the latest.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has given a bleak outlook for the Ukrainian capital’s 3 million inhabitants, owing to the damages inflicted on the city’s energy infrastructure by Russian shelling.
“This is the worst winter since World War II,” Klitschko told the German newspaper Bild, in comments published on Wednesday.
Kyiv and its residents had to be ready for the “worst case scenario” of widespread power cuts at low temperatures, in which case parts of the capital would have to be evacuated, Klitschko warned. “But we don’t want it to come to that!” the former professional boxer added.
Klitschko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to intimidate people, forcing them out of the capital with attacks on civilian infrastructure.
“Putin wants to terrorize people, make them freeze, without light,” as a way of putting pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Klitschko continued. “But that won’t happen. My impression is that people will only get angrier, more determined. We will not die or flee as Putin wants.”
Meanwhile, the Kyiv mayor has asked Germany to send generators, protective clothing and humanitarian goods, without delay.
Here are the other main headlines from the war in Ukraine on Wednesday, November 23:
Russia starts trial of dissident councilor
The Moscow city councilor Ilya Yashin has gone on trial in a district court in the capital for denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Yashin, 39, an ally of jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny, faces up to 10 years in prison for allegedly spreading fake information about the Russian army, which was made a crime by President Vladimir Putin shortly after the invasion began.
A video he released on YouTube in April in which he spoke about the “murder of civilians” in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, calling it a “massacre,” led to his arrest earlier this year while he was walking in a park. He has continued his criticism since then while in detention.
In July, another Moscow councilor, Alexei Gorinov, was sentenced to seven years in prison for condemning Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
Moldova reports ‘massive’ blackouts
Moldova says that Russia’s missile attacks on energy infrastructure in neighboring Ukraine have caused power outages across half its territory.
“Massive blackout in Moldova after today’s Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu, who also serves as the country’s infrastructure minister, said on Twitter.
The local Interior Ministry in the breakaway Russian-backed region of Transnistria also reported blackouts.
Switzerland adopts 8th EU sanctions package
The Swiss government says it will impose an 8th package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in line with the European Union.
Switzerland has largely abandoned its traditionally neutral stance to global wars in the issue of sanctions on Moscow, though it still declines to allow Swiss-made arms to be sent to the conflict zone.
Air raid sirens, explosions heard in Kyiv
Several explosions have struck the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, with Mayor Vitali Klitschko saying infrastructure had been hit, without giving details.
City officials said at least three people killed and six injured in a strike on a residential building. Water and power cuts were reported across the city.
The city has been targeted in numerous attacks over the past weeks following several months of relative quiet after Moscow’s forces were driven from the surrounding area in March.
The western city of Lviv has also been hit by strikes that have left it without power, its mayor says.
European Parliament designates Russia ‘state sponsor of terrorism’
The European Parliament has recognized Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism” because of its invasion of Ukraine.
“The deliberate attacks and atrocities carried out by the Russian Federation against the civilian population of Ukraine, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and other serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law amount to acts of terror,” the resolution by EU lawmakers on Wednesday said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the resolution, saying on Twitter that Russia must be isolated at all levels “to end its long-standing policy of terrorism in Ukraine and across the globe.”
The move is largely symbolic, as the EU does not have a legal framework in place to back it up.
Five EU countries — Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — have already declared Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.
Infant dies after hospital strike
Overnight missile strikes from Russia that hit a hospital in the Zaporizhzhia region have killed a young child, the regional governor said on Wednesday.
“Pain floods our hearts — an infant who has just come into the world has been killed,” the region’s military governor, Oleksandr Starukh, wrote on Telegram.
Rescue workers are out in force in the small town of Vilnjansk, the site of the attack on the hospital, he said.
There were also Russian strikes in the neighboring regions of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk.
UK says Russia nearly out of Iran-made weapons
Russia has “likely launched hundreds” of Iranian manufactured un-crewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) against Ukraine since September, the UK Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday.
“Russia has largely used these weapons against tactical military targets and the Ukrainian electricity grid,” the ministry said in its daily update on the war, adding that Moscow has “likely very nearly exhausted its current stock, but will probably seek resupply.”
Scholz on energy, Ukraine
The German parliament embarked upon its “general debate” on the budget for 2023 on Wednesday, with the energy crisis in Europe sparked by the war in Ukraine featuring heavily in discussions.
Germany has the energy situation “under control” and will emerge “stronger” from the crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday.
“We are doing away with the failings of an energy and trade policy that has led us into one-sided dependence on Russia and China, in particular,” Scholz told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
More coverage of the war in Ukraine
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s security service (SBU) carried out a raid on a historic Orthodox monastery in Kyiv after the country’s intelligence cited links between the Church and Russian agents.