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20 mins ago
Russia fired hundreds of missiles at mostly civilian targets this week, US military official says.
By Ellie Kaufmann
Valentina and her husband Anatoliy carry bottles of water from a working tap in a nearly destroyed building on October 12, 2022 in Bakhmut, Donetsk oblast, Ukraine.
Leaders of the G7 countries have declared that they will support Ukraine "for as long as it takes" in its war against Russia following Monday's large-scale missile strikes across the country.
(Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
Russian forces have launched hundreds of missile strikes in Ukraine over the past week, most of them against civilian targets, a senior US military official said on Friday.
“Since the attack on the Kerch Strait bridge last week, the Russians have retaliated.
Very imprecisely used precision-guided munitions was spread throughout the week,” the official said.
"I think it's fair to say that there were hundreds of missiles that the Russians launched at Ukrainian targets."
The official said the Russians are primarily targeting civilians, especially civilian infrastructure, including "electricity or bridges."
"They have been used against civilian targets, either indiscriminately or deliberately in connection with infrastructure targets like electricity or bridges or others," the official said.
The latest was an attack on power infrastructure in the Kyiv region on Saturday morning, severely damaging a facility, Ukraine's national energy company Ukrenergo said in a statement, also warning of possible power blackouts.
The southern city of Zaporizhia was also attacked by Russian missiles and drones on Saturday, according to Oleksandr Starukh, head of the region's military administration.
The city was attacked by "10 or more" C300 missiles on Saturday morning, following four kamikaze drone strikes overnight.
Putin's deadly attack:
Seen in retaliation for the bridge explosion, the wave of deadly missile strikes began on Monday and caused significant damage to power systems across Ukraine, forcing the population to cut consumption to avoid blackouts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that there is no need for more "massive" attacks on Ukraine "at least for now."
But he also said that he does not regret his actions.
Russia continues to face international backlash over the war and global outrage over its attacks on civilians.
European lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to declare Russia a "terrorist" regime.
CNN's Kostan Nechyporenko contributed to this report.
33 mins ago
Russia uses rape as a "military strategy" in Ukraine, says UN envoy
By Philip Wang, Tim Lister and Josh Pennington
Russia's military uses rape and sexual violence as part of its "military strategy" in Ukraine, a UN envoy said in an interview with AFP on Thursday.
UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten said the UN has verified "more than a hundred cases" of incidents of rape or sexual assault in Ukraine since February, citing in part the findings of a panel of experts from the UN in September.
CNN reported at the time on the findings of the UN Independent International Commission on Ukraine.
The commission said it had uncovered evidence of war crimes, including cases of rape and torture of children, without specifying the number of alleged cases.
Russia's attacks this week were aimed at damaging "crucial infrastructure" in Ukraine.
But Patten was more specific in her comments.
"When you hear women testify about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, it's clearly a military strategy," Patten said Thursday.
Patten reiterated that the age of the victims of sexual violence in the cases investigated by the UN ranges between four and 82 years.
He said that "there are many cases of sexual violence against children, who are raped, tortured and kidnapped."
CNN cannot independently verify these claims.
Patten also said that the number of victims "will never reflect reality" because it is a crime that goes unreported.
"Since February I have not stopped insisting on the importance of having credible investigations into these cases of violence," he said.
In June, Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Kateryna Pavlichenko said that the police received around 50 complaints of sexual crimes committed by Russian soldiers.
Prosecutors are also investigating a series of rape claims in the Kharkiv region after Ukraine recently recaptured territory there.
Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked in September about allegations that Russian forces committed war crimes in Ukraine, before the UN panel reported on its findings, to which he replied that it was all a lie".
38 mins ago
Russian strikes killed 11 Ukrainian civilians last day, says senior official
By Katharina Krebs
Russian strikes have killed at least 11 civilians and wounded 11 others in Ukraine over the past day, a senior Ukrainian official said on Saturday.
In the Donetsk region, eight civilians were killed and six wounded, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office, said in a statement on Telegram.
He added that two more people were killed and one was injured in the Zaporizhia region.
Tymoshenko also said that one civilian was killed and another wounded in the Kharkiv region.
Other injuries were reported in the Dnipro and Kherson regions, according to the official.
Some background: Russian forces have launched hundreds of missile strikes in Ukraine over the past week, most of them against civilian targets, a senior US military official said Friday.
A Ukrainian official said that these are deliberate actions: the Russians are mainly targeting civilians, especially civilian infrastructure, including "electricity or bridges".
The bombing of electrical installations appears to be an unsubtle hint of the misery Russian President Vladimir Putin could inflict as winter approaches.
war in ukraine
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