The Kremlin will not issue a decree to end the military mobilization

Water and electricity return to Kyiv in the wake of Russian attacks

Soldiers from Donetsk, which joined Russia, return to their families after a prisoner exchange deal with Ukraine.

EPA

Yesterday morning, water and electricity returned to all areas of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in the wake of Russian bombing that targeted basic infrastructure and caused widespread outages, while the Kremlin said that Russia does not need to issue a presidential decree to officially announce the completion of a partial mobilization of reserve soldiers to fight in Ukraine. No decree will be issued in this regard.

Since October, Russia has intensified its strikes by drones and missiles targeting water networks and energy facilities in Ukrainian cities, prompting the authorities to impose rationing in some areas and raising fears of a difficult winter for Ukrainians.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said on Telegram that water and electricity were "completely restored", after nearly 80% of the city's population was deprived of water, and 350,000 homes were without electricity as a result of Monday's strikes.

But Klitschko pointed out that a programmed power outage will continue in the capital "due to the major defect in the electricity system after the brutal attacks of the aggressor," while the sirens of air defenses sounded again yesterday morning in the city.

The Ukrainian military said that Russia launched 55 S-300 cruise missiles and combat marches on Monday, as part of a series of strikes across the country, often targeting energy facilities.

Yesterday, Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Aristovich confirmed that these strikes "are among the most intense on our territory launched by the army of the Russian Federation."

He praised the improvement of the air defenses in Ukraine, saying that thanks to them, "the destruction that follows is not as large as it is supposed to be."

Yesterday, the Russian military praised the strikes it launched the day before, which "significantly disrupted the administration and logistics of the Ukrainian armed forces."

The Russian strikes last month destroyed about a third of the country's electricity capacity as the winter season approaches, according to the Ukrainian authorities, who continue to urge citizens to reduce their energy consumption as much as possible.

The pro-Russian authorities in Kherson in southern Ukraine, for their part, announced a new evacuation of the residents of this city, as Moscow's forces are preparing for an upcoming Ukrainian attack.

After evacuating some 70,000 people from the right bank of the Dnipro River last week, pro-Russian officials yesterday began relocating thousands of additional residents.

"We will move up to 70,000 people who are currently in a sector 15 kilometers deep to the east on the left bank of the Dnipro River," said Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-appointed governor.

Ukraine denounced the population transfers, describing them as "deportations".

Saldo had announced on Monday evening that the evacuation of this 15-kilometer-deep sector would also allow the Russian army to establish a "deep defense to repel the Ukrainian attack", which indicates that the Russians are taking into account the possibility of Kyiv forces crossing the Dnipro River.

On the other front, the Ukrainian presidency spoke of attacks by Russian drones in the Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions in the center of the country, and with missiles on several other sites.

The Russian military, for its part, accused Ukraine yesterday of firing "more than 20 shells" at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe and controlled by Moscow, and the neighboring city of Energodar.

This comes at a time when the Kremlin refused to issue an official decree to end the mobilization, which increases the Russians' fears of the possibility of resuming it.

Putin said on Monday that he would consult with legal experts to see if it was necessary to issue a new presidential decree.

"There is no need to issue a decree," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters yesterday.

On the economic front, consultations (Monday) intensified between Russian and Turkish officials after Moscow's decision to suspend the agreement on exports of Ukrainian grain vital to global supplies.

In an attempt to overcome the dispute, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will speak in the coming days with his Russian counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, on the Ukrainian grain export agreement, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced yesterday.

Three new cargo ships loaded with grain sailed from Ukrainian ports yesterday morning, heading to the humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea, according to the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul.

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