Russian air bases, far from the border between the two countries, were also the target, according to Moscow, of raids carried out during the day by Ukrainian drones, which killed at least three Russian soldiers. Kyiv did not confirm.

These new Russian strikes on Ukraine come on the day of the entry into force of the mechanism for capping the sale price of Russian oil decided by the West, who are thus trying to dry up Moscow’s manna to finance its military effort.

Monday morning, the Kremlin warned that this new sanction would have “no impact” on its offensive.

In this tense context, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared on television on Monday driving a car crossing the Crimean Bridge, a key infrastructure that connects Russia to this Ukrainian peninsula annexed in 2014 by Moscow. An explosion, attributed by the Kremlin to Ukraine, had damaged it in October.

Moments before, anti-aircraft sirens sounded across Ukraine which “is suffering an eighth massive missile attack by a terrorist state. Unfortunately, there is already damage to the energy infrastructure”, indicated the national operator, Ukrenergo.

However, the alerts were quickly lifted and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured that his country’s anti-aircraft defense had managed to “shoot down most of the Russian missiles”.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, more than 60 out of 70 missiles fired by Moscow were destroyed in flight.

Since the fall, and a series of humiliating setbacks, the Russian army has stepped up strikes against Ukrainian energy installations, so much so that most of the civilian population has electricity for only a few hours a day.

– Hours without power –

According to the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration Kyrylo Tymoshenko, an initial report shows at least two dead and three wounded, including a child.

Visiting kyiv, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, wrote on Twitter, photo in support, to have had to join a bomb shelter and continue a meeting there.

The Russian strikes have caused further water and electricity cuts in several cities and regions, while winter temperatures are well established.

Due to the strikes, Ukrenergo warned that emergency power cuts would be applied across Ukraine “to maintain the balance between electricity production and consumption”. “Electricity will be supplied as a priority to essential infrastructure,” Ukrenergo added on Telegram.

Earlier, Prime Minister Denys Chmygal had assured that “the country’s energy system is working and remains intact”.

Even before the new strikes, Ukrenergo on Monday described the situation regarding electricity supplies as “difficult”.

In Borodianka, northwest of kyiv covered with snow and ice, large tents equipped with wood stoves have been installed to allow the population to warm up or cook.

“The electricity is cut for four hours, sometimes six hours”, testifies one of its inhabitants, Serguiï, before tearing the pages of a book to make a firelighter.

Next to it, a bearded man chops wood with a hatchet, while a woman rolls dough to make stuffed buns. The fire hums, a samovar is placed on the stove to heat the water.

“The plan is simple: we have wood and we sit down here,” resumes Serguiï. But he fears even longer cuts which would be “very hard, especially for children”.

The fighting also continues to rage on the long front line. The Ukrainian army thus announced on Monday that it had repelled several attacks during the previous 24 hours, in particular in the Bakhmout sector, in the east.

In Moscow, at the end of the day, the Ministry of Defense reported attacks against two air bases in central Russia.

“The kyiv regime (…) attempted to carry out strikes with Soviet-designed drones on the Diaguilevo air base in the Ryazan region and the Engels air base in the Saratov region,” the text reads.

The ministry accuses the Ukrainian forces of seeking “to disable long-range Russian planes”, used for strikes on energy infrastructure in Ukraine.

If these “jet drones” were intercepted by Russian anti-aircraft defense systems, their debris fell on the territory of the air bases attacked, causing explosions there, killing three soldiers, injuring four and “slightly” damaging two planes, according to the press release.