photo credit: REUTERS
‘Russia’s systematic attacks are not just acts of war – they are crimes that deliberately target and terrify the civilian population, leaving millions vulnerable. These assaults disrupt every facet of life, from access to clean water and food, to essential mobility for the elderly and persons with disabilities, to healthcare and education.’ Catriona Murdoch, Director of Global Rights Compliance’s Humanitarian Crisis Division said of the strikes on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
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Moscow could soon begin to strike ‘decision-making centres’ in Kyiv if Ukraine continues to hit targets in Russia with US and UK missiles, Vladimir Putin has declared.
The Kremlin chief’s stark warning follows hours after Russian forces pounded Ukraine with dozens of missiles and drones overnight in an attempt to degrade the energy network as a bitter winter approaches.
Putin also announced that Russia’s production of advanced missile systems exceeds that of the NATO military alliance by 10 times, adding that Moscow plans to ramp up production yet further.
Russian attacks have not yet struck government buildings in the Ukrainian capital which is heavily protected by air defences.
But Putin claims Russia’s new ‘Oreshnik’ hypersonic missile, which it fired for the first time at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last week in response to the first ATACMS and Storm Shadow strikes in Russia, is incapable of being intercepted.
‘Of course, we will respond to the ongoing strikes on Russian territory with long-range Western-made missiles, as has already been said, including by possibly continuing to test the Oreshnik in combat conditions, as was done on November 21,’ Putin told a meeting of a security alliance of ex-Soviet countries in Kazakhstan.
‘At present, the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff are selecting targets to hit on Ukrainian territory. These could be military facilities, defence and industrial enterprises, or decision-making centres in Kyiv,’ he said.
The latest warning comes as Russian forces are advancing westward in Ukraine at a rate faster than any other time after the initial days of the 2022 invasion, taking an area half the size of London over the past month as the return of Donald Trump to the White House looms large.
Cluster munitions have killed or wounded over 1,000 people in Ukraine since Russia launched its war in February 2022, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) said in its annual report in September.
They also pose a long-term risk since many fail to explode on impact, effectively acting as landmines that can explode years later, the CMC noted.
Catriona Murdoch, Director of Global Rights Compliance’s Humanitarian Crisis Division said of the strikes on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure: ‘Russia’s systematic attacks are not just acts of war – they are crimes that deliberately target and terrify the civilian population, leaving millions vulnerable.
‘These assaults disrupt every facet of life, from access to clean water and food, to essential mobility for the elderly and persons with disabilities, to healthcare and education.’
Neither Russia nor Ukraine is among the 112 states that are party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the use, transfer, production and storage of cluster bombs.
The United States, also not a party to the treaty, had agreed to transfer cluster munitions to Kyiv in July 2023, a move that was criticised even by the two countries’ allies.