RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian forces subjected the Russian city of Donetsk to massive artillery shelling and rocket attacks on Monday, with at least four civilians killed and several more wounded, according to local authorities.

The attacks targeted residential areas of the city, with at least three buildings damaged, according to the Joint Center on Control and Coordination (JCCC) mission, which monitors what it alleges are Ukrainian “war crimes.” The shelling primarily hit the Kiev district in the north of the city, the territorial defense headquarters of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) reported.

The Ukrainian forces used Grad BM-21 multiple rocket launchers, as well as artillery pieces of Soviet 152mm and NATO 155mm calibers during the attack. Apart from four fatalities, four other civilians were injured, the territorial defense has said. 

Separately, Kiev’s forces subjected the village of Tetkino, located in Russia’s Kursk Region, to shelling. The settlement was hit by more than 20 projectiles that came from the Ukrainian side of the border. Despite material damage having been inflicted, no one was injured in the attack, according to the regional authorities. 

“Thanks to the timely activation of the warning system, there were no casualties. However, a gas line was hit. Moreover, power supply was disrupted in almost the entire village. According to preliminary data, some 20 private houses were damaged: facades, roofs were hit by shrapnel, windows were broken,” Kursk Region Governor Roman Starovoyt said in a Telegram post, sharing images from the scene. 

Donetsk has been subjected to heavy artillery and missile attacks by Ukrainian forces on an almost daily basis since Russia launched its military operation in late February. Prior to that, the city had endured low-intensity fighting and sporadic shelling by Ukrainian troops since 2014, when the DPR along with the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) broke away from Ukraine in the aftermath of the Maidan coup in Kiev. 

This fall, the two republics, along with Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, formally joined Russia after overwhelmingly supporting unification during referendums.

** Strikes by Russian missiles in multiple regions of Ukraine targeted its ability to transport troops and their Western-supplied weapons, as well as equipment to the front lines, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Monday. Ukrainian officials reported power supply disruptions in the capital and several regional seats.

“Energy objects” in the Kiev, Vinnitsa and Odessa regions were damaged by Monday’s strikes, leading to power outages, said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal.  

There were also reports of full blackouts in the Sumy region, as well as partial disruptions in Cherkasy, Kharkov, Krivoy Rog, Kirovograd, Nikolaev, and Zhitomir. Multiple targets were struck in Dnepropetrovsk.

In addition to power and water supply in the major cities, damage to the electrical grid has seriously delayed rail traffic across Ukraine.

This was the stated objective of the attack, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. In a statement on Monday, Moscow said it carried out a “massive” strike using strategic bombers, aiming to disrupt the transport of Ukrainian troops – as well as their Western-supplied weapons, equipment and ammunition – to the front lines by rail.

“All 17 assigned objectives were hit,” the Defense Ministry said.

The sortie went ahead despite an attack by Ukrainian drones on Russian airfields in Saratov and Ryazan regions, both more than 500km inside Russia, on Monday morning.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, three service members were killed and four injured when debris from the drones shot down by air defenses impacted the facilities. Two airplanes reportedly suffered minor damage.

Russia began striking Ukrainian infrastructure targets in early October, after a suicide bombing organized by Kiev damaged a span of the Crimean Bridge. Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last weekthat, while Moscow had long refrained from hitting certain targets, such strikes became “necessary and unavoidable as a reaction to Kiev’s provocative attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure.”

** Anti-Russia sanctions are obviously damaging the European countries that have imposed them, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when commenting on statements made by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday, adding that denying it is unprofessional.

Speaking about the influence of sanctions on Russia, Peskov said: "Certain problems obviously arise due to sanctions, though they have not been critical so far, one could argue with Scholz here." "Specialists perfectly see the process of the Russian economy’s adjustment to those conditions, and it is unprofessional to deny it," the spokesman said.

"Moreover, it would probably be unprofessional to conceal the damage that sanctions are causing to European countries, I mean regarding the sanctions that the Europeans have imposed against us. This damage is obvious, same as the damage of those sanctions to the German economy, all our specialists, specialists in Brussels and specialists in Berlin are perfectly aware of that," he noted.

Earlier, Scholz said that since the beginning of military actions in Ukraine it was clear that sanctions would remain for a long period of time, and that the efficiency of those restrictions was allegedly rising from week to week. Moscow should understand that not a single restriction will be lifted if Russia attempts to dictate the terms of the peace treaty, German Chancellor added.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine warned there would be emergency blackouts once again in several regions as it repaired damage from missile attacks it said destroyed homes and knocked out power, while Moscow accused Kyiv of attacking deep inside Russia with drones.

ENERGY

** The Biden administration is convening a virtual meeting on Thursday with oil and gas executives to discuss how the United States can support Ukrainian energy infrastructure, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

** The Netherlands has weighed into the European Union's debate on whether to cap gas prices with an alternative proposal that would cap gas prices but only for government-owned or state-supported buyers.

** A Group of Seven (G7) price cap on Russian seaborne oil came into force as the West tries to limit Moscow's ability to finance its war in Ukraine, though Russia has said it will not abide by the measure even if it has to cut production.

** Russia's ESPO oil blend from the Far Eastern port of Kozmino was selling for around $79 a barrel in Asian markets on Monday - almost a third higher than the price cap imposed on Russian oil by the G7 and European Union - according to Refinitiv data and estimates from industry sources.

FIGHTING

* Russia said three of its military personnel were killed in what it said were Ukrainian drone attacks on two Russian air bases hundreds of miles from the front lines in Ukraine. The Kyiv government did not directly claim responsibility.

** The Ukrainian air force said that over 60 missiles of the more than 70 fired at Ukraine by Russia had been shot down.

* Reuters could not verify battlefield reports.

* Spanish police intercepted three more envelopes containing animal eyesaddressed to Ukraine's embassy in Madrid and its consulates in Barcelona and Malaga, police sources close to the investigation said.

RT/TASS/Reuters