Missiles rained down on Ukrainian energy facilities on Thursday as Russian forces stepped up attacks in eastern Ukraine, bolstered by troops withdrawn from the southern city of Kherson, which Kyiv recaptured last week. Explosions rang out in cities including the capital Kyiv, the southern port of Odessa, the central city of Dnipro and the southeastern region of Zaporizhia. “Punishment for all Russian atrocities – both present and past – will be inevitable,” President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted, as news broke that a Dutch court had ruled that a passenger jet shot down over the eastern Ukraine in 2014 was hit by Russian-made. projectile. A court has sentenced two former Russian intelligence agents and a Ukrainian separatist leader to life in prison for the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew. The G20 condemns “strongly and clearly” the Russian invasion of Ukraine Opinion: Polish missile crisis stark reminder of threat posed by Russian invasion The court also said Russia had “total control” of separatist forces in eastern Ukraine at the time. A deal aimed at reducing global food shortages by facilitating Ukrainian agricultural exports from southern Black Sea ports was extended by 120 days, although Moscow said its own demands had not yet been fully met. As the first snow of winter fell in Kyiv, authorities said they were working to restore power nationwide after Russia earlier this week launched what Ukraine said was the heaviest shelling of civilian infrastructure in the nine-month war. Residents of the Ukrainian capital Kiev woke up on November 17 to the sound of air raid alarms and the sight of the city covered in fresh snow. Reuters Zelensky released video, apparently taken from a car camera, showing a massive explosion in Dnipro that sent flames and black smoke pouring into the sky. At least 15 people were injured in Dnipro, three were injured in the northeastern city of Kharkiv and at least one was injured in Odesa, officials said. State energy company Naftogaz said gas production facilities in eastern Ukraine were damaged or destroyed. Other sites hit included the massive Pivdenmash defense plant in Dnipro. The United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA) has warned of a severe humanitarian crisis in Ukraine this winter, with millions facing “constant power cuts”. MURAT YUKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: GRAPHIC NEWS NATO and Poland have concluded that a missile that crashed in Poland on Tuesday, killing two people, was probably a stray fired by Ukraine’s air defenses, not Russia. Zelensky challenged that view in a rare public spat with his Western allies. Polish President Andrzej Duda said the missile, the first deadly extension of the war on NATO soil, appeared to be a Soviet-made S-300 missile that was likely accidentally fired “by Ukrainian air defenses,” not Russia. Russia and Ukraine both use the missile. An adviser to Duda said Ukraine is likely to get access to the explosion site it has requested. US President Joe Biden disputed Zelensky’s claim that the missile was not Ukrainian, telling reporters at the White House on Thursday: “This is not evidence.” Moscow had denied responsibility. Russia’s foreign ministry said accusations of Russian involvement in the blast were “part of a systematic anti-Russian campaign by the West”. A deadly explosion on NATO-member Poland’s soil near its border with Ukraine has raised concerns that Russia’s war in Ukraine is escalating into a wider conflict. It has also led to the discussion of Articles 4 and 5. Here, a look at what NATO’s principle of collective defense means. Reuters Officials reported heavy fighting in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which Russia claims to have annexed along with the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia after holding so-called referendums that were condemned as fraudulent by Kyiv and the West. Vladimir Rogov, a Russian official in the Russian-controlled part of Zaporizhia, said a Ukrainian missile struck a village there, killing two people and wounding nine. Moscow forces withdrew from the city of Kherson last week after a Ukrainian counter-offensive. It was the only regional capital that Russia had captured since its February 24 invasion, and the retreat was the third major Russian retreat of the war. Ukrainian and Russian gunners on Thursday exchanged fire on the Dnipro River that bisects the Kherson region, with tremors reverberating as a freezing rain drenched the city. Investigators in retaken territory in the region have discovered 63 bodies bearing signs of torture after Russian forces withdrew, Ukraine’s interior minister said on Thursday. Russia denies that its troops target civilians or that they have committed atrocities. Mass graves have been found in other places previously occupied by Russian troops, including some with civilian corpses showing signs of torture. Herson’s main square on Thursday was a frenzied melee of humanitarian aid queues and patriotic celebrations with uncertainty about the future. At one end, a man played the Ukrainian national anthem on an accordion as passers-by sang along. a man was blasting popular Ukrainian rock songs from the other. Children and teenagers asked a soldier to sign flags draped over their shoulders. Hundreds of people lined up for humanitarian aid, but said they had no idea what they might receive. “We are fine, but we don’t know what to expect. Nothing is over yet. On that bank of the river the forces are concentrated. On this side they gather. We are in the middle. I’m afraid we’ll end up like Mariupol,” said Ihor, 48, an unemployed builder, referring to the devastated Ukrainian city now in Russian hands. An emotional witness has spoken of the horror he felt when a rocket hit a grain facility near the Polish village of Przewodow on Tuesday. Two people working with the witness were killed in the attack, likely a stray shot down by Ukraine’s air defenses on the day Russia bombarded the nation with missiles. Reuters
