NEWS Russo-Ukrainian war latest: Putin’s grid attack targets west

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held an earlier news conference in which he made several swaggering remarks about the war in Ukraine [see 10.02 post].

The most notable of these was his claim that NATO, and especially the US, were directly involved in the war because of their support for Ukraine.

Defending Russia’s destructive attacks on energy infrastructure, Mr Lavrov said: “We paralyzed energy facilities and let you [the west] Sending deadly weapons to Ukraine to kill Russians.

“So don’t say that the United States and NATO are not involved in this war – you are directly involved. Not only the supply of weapons, but also the training of personnel – you train [Ukrainian] The army is on your territory. “

The Kremlin said it would not recognize the legitimacy of any war crimes tribunal established by the European Union over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday that the EU would try to set up a specialized tribunal with the backing of the United Nations to investigate and prosecute possible war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters this morning: “As for attempts to create some kind of court: they will have no legitimacy, will not be accepted by us, and we will condemn them.”

Ukraine and Western allies accuse Russia of numerous war crimes during the 10-month war, including the brief occupation of the town of Buta, which was found littered with civilian bodies after Russian troops were routed.

The International Criminal Court is investigating the post-war situation in Ukraine, while some NGOs have been gathering evidence of alleged war crimes committed by Russian troops.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has claimed that the Kremlin’s relentless bombing of civilian infrastructure is aimed at stopping Western ammunition.

The bizarre remarks by Vladimir Putin’s top diplomat came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a two-month strike had hit the country’s energy infrastructure In the end, about 6 million Ukrainians will face a winter without power.

Kyiv and Western allies have accused Russia of resorting to attacks on the daily lives of ordinary Ukrainians in an attempt to break the spirit of the invaded country.

Mr Lavrov today refuted the allegations, claiming: “We attack energy facilities that make it possible for the West to send weapons to Ukraine.”

The West has been arming Ukraine throughout the war and has recently shifted to providing air defense systems in response to Russian airstrikes on cities across the country far from the southern and eastern front lines of the war.

Spain’s defense ministry said this morning that Spanish security forces had discovered a third suspected explosive device in an envelope addressed to the Torrejón de Ardoz air base outside Madrid.

At the time of the ministry statement, police were still analyzing the package, which came after two letter bomb attacks on Wednesday, one of which was destined for the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid.

The second was addressed to an arms manufacturer in Zaragoza, northern Spain.

Russia accused Germany of trying to whitewash its Nazi past after the German parliament voted to recognize the 1932-33 Ukrainian famine as a genocide committed by the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.

Millions of Ukrainians starved to death after Stalin ordered the confiscation of grain and livestock from farms recently brought under state control in what became known as the “Great Famine.”

The Kremlin this morning dismissed claims it was a genocide and said millions of people in other parts of the Soviet Union also suffered.

“There is another attempt to justify and promote a campaign – planted in Ukraine and sponsored by the West – to demonize Russia and turn ethnic Ukrainians against Russians,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The Germans are attempting to rewrite their history … downplaying their own guilt and obfuscating the memory of the unprecedented nature of the myriad crimes committed by Nazi Germany during World War II,” it added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Germany for the endorsement, tweeting in German: “Truth always wins.”

The Pentagon says the US Army has awarded Raytheon Technologies a $1.2bn (£1bn) contract to deliver an advanced missile system to Ukraine.

Raytheon will provide six National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (Nasams) to help defend against missile and drone attacks, and Ukraine has already received two.

“Nasams is just the latest in a variety of air defense capabilities that we are providing to Ukraine,” said Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill Laplante.

The six Nasams systems are part of the fifth Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) program announced on Aug. 24, with a total value of $2.98 billion, according to an Army statement.

Prosecutors began subordination to Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev on Wednesday after he was accused of funding separatists in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, Reuters reported. $5.4 million (£4.4 million) was seized from his US bank account.

Federal prosecutors in New York said in court documents seen by news organizations that they were entitled to the money because Mr. Malofeev attempted to transfer it to business partners, in violation of U.S. sanctions.

The civil forfeiture complaint marks the latest move by Washington to seize control of the assets of wealthy Russians, a strategy that is being implemented across all allied governments.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday that the allies could confiscate frozen assets – citing figures of 300 billion euros in Russia’s foreign exchange reserves and 19 billion euros in oligarch assets – and use them to fund efforts in war-torn Ukraine. reconstruction.

Vladimir Putin paid tribute to former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who just died aged 97.

The Russian leader hailed the former Chinese Communist Party chief as “an authoritative statesman and a great man” and expressed his sincerest condolences to “the family and friends of the deceased and the friendly Chinese people”.

Jiang Zemin, who was in power from 1989 to 2000, co-signed a Sino-Russian friendship treaty with his then-presidency, the first President Vladimir Putin, which is still not in force.

The Chinese leader has led a decade of rapid growth, while Russia is embracing the market after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“The critical period of China’s modern history and its great achievements in economic and social development and strengthening of its international status are inseparable from the name of this outstanding statesman,” Mr. Putin said.

The Ministry of Defense said today that Russia’s repeated attacks on Ukraine’s power distribution grid, mostly using cruise missiles, may be the first example of the Kremlin’s attempt to implement the Strategic Operation to Destroy Critical Targets (SODCIT) concept.

The ministry said in its latest intelligence update that the move was a key component of the military doctrine Moscow has adopted in recent years.

“Russia envisages that SODCIT use long-range missiles to strike critical national infrastructure of an enemy state, rather than its military forces, in order to damage popular morale and eventually force the country’s leadership to surrender,” it added.

The ministry noted that these strikes continued to cause power shortages, leading to widespread and indiscriminate humanitarian suffering across Ukraine.

“However, its effectiveness as a strategy may have diminished, as Russia has deployed most of its suitable missiles against tactical targets,” the ministry said.

As for Ukraine, which has been successfully mobilized for nine months, the Ministry of Defense claims that “the physical and psychological impact of SODCIT may not be as good as it would be if it were deployed early in the war.”

Voltage on Kherson’s power grid has collapsed today as a result of Russian shelling, regional officials said.

The governor of Kherson region, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said today that the voltage to rebuild the city was gone after constant shelling.

Kherson is one of the regions that saw Russian troops fighting in battle.