UK: Russia may attack more civilian targets in Ukraine

Over the past couple of days, Russia has increased attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine as it suffers setbacks on the front lines, said the British Defense Ministry in an online briefing on Sunday. They further indicated that Russian shelling is already hitting towns and cities at night. Meanwhile, Ukrainians return to places abandoned by Moscow’s army and try to find their dead.

According to the governors of various regions in Ukraine, five civilians were killed after Russia attacked the Donetsk region over the past day. On the other hand, Nikopol, a city southeast of Kryvyy Rih has reported several damages to gas pipelines and power lines, as well as dozens of high-rise and private buildings, which were also attacked by Russian strikes.

“In the last seven days, Russia has increased its targeting of civilian infrastructure even where it probably perceives no immediate military effect,” said the UK's defence ministry. This uptick in the number of attacks on civilian infrastructure is following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat of doing so after his ground attack was repelled in northeast Ukraine.

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The UK's defence ministry also said that Moscow’s army is putting the aforementioned threat into action, “As it faces setbacks on the front lines, Russia has likely extended the locations it is prepared to strike in an attempt to directly undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government,” the defence ministry stated. The strikes have also targeted an electricity grid and a dam, they added.

Earlier this month, Ukraine’s forces managed to retake 20 or so towns in the northeastern Kharkiv region. However, on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that investigators found evidence of torture against soldiers buried near Izium, which was one of the regions retaken from the Russian forces. The claim was made in a video address, which also indicated the discovery of a mass grave containing at least 17 bodies which showed signs of torture.

Oleksandr Ilienkov, the chief of the prosecutor’s office for the Kharkiv region said in an interview, “One of the bodies (found) has evidence of a ligature pattern and a rope around the neck, tied hands.” Reportedly, the bodies also showed signs of violent death and would undergo forensic examination. This is as Moscow has repeatedly and vehemently denied committing atrocities and deliberately attacking civilians.

On Sunday, the mayor of Izium said, “the exhumation is underway, the graves are being dug up and all the remains are being transported to Kharkiv”. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has not acknowledged or commented on the discovery of the mass grave.

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Ukraine’s regional governor Vitaliy Kim said one of the overnight shelling by the Russian forces hit a hospital in Mykolaiv, while attacks in other parts of the region also wounded two people. Reportedly, three people were hit in Nikopol, and three people were killed by rocket attacks over the past day in Kharkiv, including an 11-year-old girl, said regional government officials.

Russian troops were forced to pull back from most of the Kharkiv region following the Ukrainian counteroffensive efforts. On Sunday, the last reactor of the six-reactor Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was also switched off after repeated power failures and constant shelling putting crucial safety systems at risk. The power plant was captured by the Russian forces in March earlier this year but is run by Ukrainian engineers.

(With inputs from agencies)