The Kremlin welcomes the Vatican's offer of mediation

Zelensky: Russia will not stop its strikes until it runs out of missiles

Ukrainian sappers conduct basic explosive and mine safety training for civilians in Kharkiv.

EPA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has advised Ukrainians to wait out another brutal week of cold and darkness, anticipating more Russian attacks on infrastructure, saying the attacks will not stop until Moscow runs out of missiles. Ukraine conflict But Kyiv's position makes that impossible.

Russia has launched large-scale missile strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure almost every week since early October, each attack causing more damage than the last, spreading destruction as winter approaches.

Zelensky said in a speech delivered the night before last that he expected new attacks this week that might be as harsh as last week's attacks, the most severe so far, which left millions without heating, water or electricity.

"We understand that terrorists are now planning new attacks," Zelensky said in his video speech broadcast on Sunday night.

We know this for sure...Unfortunately, they will not calm down as long as they have missiles.”

Kyiv said the attacks, which Russia acknowledges were aimed at Ukraine's infrastructure, were intended to harm civilians, making them a war crime.

Moscow denies that its aim is to harm civilians, but it said last week that their suffering will not end unless Ukraine acquiesces to Russian demands, without mentioning those demands.

Snow fell and temperatures hovered around freezing on Sunday, while waves of Russian air strikes suffered millions in and around the Ukrainian capital as power and central heating were cut off.

City authorities said workers were close to completing the restoration of electricity, water and heating, but high levels of consumption meant some outages.

And on the front lines on the front, the looming winter brings a new phase of the conflict in light of the intense trench warfare and the taking of heavily fortified centers after several months of Russian retreat.

With the retreat of the Russian forces in the northeast and their withdrawal to the other side of the Dnipro River in the south, the land front line has shrunk to about half its length, which it was a few months ago, making it difficult for the Ukrainian forces to find weak fortified points from which to achieve a new breakthrough.

Zelensky spoke of the intense fighting taking place along the front stretch west of the city of Donetsk, where Russia focused its offensive even as its forces withdrew to other places.

Each side claims that it has inflicted a large number of dead and wounded on the other, with little change in their positions.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in the daily development report yesterday that the Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks in Bakhmut and Avdiivka in that region.

The Kremlin denied that Russia had any plans to withdraw from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, which Russian forces captured early in the war on the front line on the Dnipro River.

The head of Ukraine's nuclear power operator, Petro Koktin, said on Sunday there were indications Russia might pull out of the plant. "I get the impression that they are packing their bags, stealing everything they can," he said.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded yesterday, saying: "There is no need to search for indicators, as there are none of them, and there cannot be."

Russia says it has annexed the area and placed the plant under the control of the Russian Atomic Energy Organization.

And called on the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations to stop military work at the station and the surrounding area to prevent a nuclear catastrophe.

The Russian-appointed administration in the city of Innerhudar, where the plant is located, said it was still under Russian control.

"The media frequently spreads fake news that Russia intends to withdraw from Innerhudar and leave (the nuclear plant)."

This information is incorrect.

In Kherson, a southern city without electricity and heating since Russian forces withdrew earlier this month, regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevich said 17 percent of grid subscribers now have electricity.

The current will be restored to other regions soon.

Yesterday, the Kremlin said that it welcomed the Vatican's offer to mediate negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian conflict, as Peskov welcomed this in statements to reporters, but said that in view of the fait accompli and the legal position shown by the Ukrainian side, it is difficult to achieve this.

In the latest example of Western military support to Kyiv, the Pentagon is considering a proposal by Boeing to supply Ukraine with small, cheap precision-guided bombs that can be fitted to missiles with a range of 150 kilometers, bringing more Russian targets within range.

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