More Explosions Rock Kyiv; Ukraine on High Alert

Russia launched a barrage of strikes across Ukraine, including in the capital Kyiv, targeting energy infrastructure and water supplies, authorities said.

Multiple blasts were heard across the country on Monday morning, with blasts reported in the suburbs of Kyiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad and other regions.

Air alerts were declared in all regions of Ukraine except Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. At the time of writing, the alerts remain in place for eastern Ukraine and Kyiv.

Local authorities reported strikes on critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Cherkasy.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his Telegram account that part of the city has been left without electricity, while some districts of the city have no water supply as a result of the strikes.

"Power engineers are working to restore electricity supply after damage to an energy facility that powers about 350,000 apartments in Kyiv," said Klitschko, noting that emergency services are doing "everything possible" to repair the damage as soon as possible.

Kyiv residents are also receiving emergency alerts to their phones warning of a "high probability of Russian missiles strikes," and urging them to go to nearby shelters.

In Kharkiv, mayor Ihor Terekhov said the city has been hit by two missiles which targeted "a critical infrastructure facility."

Oleksandr Starukh, the governor of Zaporizhzhia region, said on his Telegram channel that Russian forces carried out a missile strike on Monday morning, damaging several critical infrastructure facilities.

"Around 08:00, the enemy carried out missile strikes on Zaporizhzhia. Early reports indicate the missiles were air-launched. Critical infrastructure facilities have been damaged. Power outages might occur," he said.

Part of Cherkasy has also been left without electricity after strikes on a critical infrastructure facility, officials said.

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on Monday that "another batch of Russian missiles hit the critical infrastructure of Ukraine."

"Instead of fighting on the battlefield, the Russian Federation is at war with the civilian population. Don't justify these attacks by calling them a 'response.' The Russian Federation is doing this because it still has missiles and the desire to kill Ukrainians," he wrote.

Russian President Vladimir Putin intensified attacks on Ukraine after an October 8 explosion on the strategically vital Kerch Strait Bridge that connects Russia's mainland to the annexed Crimean Peninsula, although Kyiv has not claimed responsibility.

Putin has said that recent strikes against the neighboring country that began on October 10 were in response to the bridge explosion.

Max Bergmann, the director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told Newsweek that he felt the latest series of strikes by Russia are largely "a degree of temper tantrum" and "a bit of a psyop" by the Russian president to try to test the will of the Ukrainian people and to "try to bring the war to Ukrainians."

"I think they're [Russia] going to they're trying to make this war as difficult and as costly as possible for the Ukrainian public," Bergmann said. "So hitting energy infrastructure ahead of winter, I think their hope is that essentially the Ukrainians are freezing. I think what's clear is that the Russians want the Ukrainians to give up."

Zelensky said on Friday that 4 million people in Ukraine have lost electricity as a result of Russia's latest strikes.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry for comment.