Russian strikes leave 40% of Kyiv residents without water

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Russian airstrikes on Kyiv Tuesday have left Ukraine's capital city without water for about 40% of its residents as Moscow continues to batter the country's infrastructure.

Taking out Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, including electrical power and water, has been part of the Kremlin's new military plan for weeks as the typical harsh Ukrainian winter season approaches.

Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said on Monday that 270,000 homes lost electricity from the Moscow attacks along with the loss of clean drinking water.

The loss of water and electricity was part of a Russian attack that included 55 cruise missiles and dozens of other weapons that focused on civilian targets. Ukrainian army's commander in chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said the attacks came after Russia blamed Ukraine for drone attacks on its fleet in the Black Sea.

Oleksiy Arestovich, an advisor for Russian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attacks "one of the most massive shellings of our territory by the army of the Russian Federation."

On Tuesday, Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said one person was killed in Bakhmut during a Moscow attack that hurt two others. Bakhmut has been coveted by Russian for its strategic location in Ukraine's industrial heartland of the Donbas, Kyrylenko said.

Russian forces added two missile strikes on the city of Kramatorsk and a total of 14 aimed at its industrial zone. Residential power lines were damaged during shelling on the outskirts of the villages in the Ocheretyn while raids on the outskirts of the villages in Kurakhovo destroyed a private house.

Attacks were also reported in Kurdyumiyka, Nelipiyka, Torskyi and Zarichnyi in the Lymansk community.

In a note of bright news, Ukrainian ships loaded with grain continued to leave the country this week, despite Russia saying it has dropped out of a Turkey-brokered deal to grant those ships safe harbor.