MÜNSTER, Germany — Top diplomats from the world’s major industrialized democracies agreed to a “coordination mechanism to help Ukraine repair, restore and defend its critical energy and water infrastructure,” after Russian strikes damaged water and power facilities in recent weeks, according to a statement released on Friday.
Ukraine live briefing: G-7 to offer infrastructure help to Ukraine; Putin tells Kherson residents to flee
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven said that attacks on civilian infrastructure constitute “war crimes and we reiterate our determination to ensure full accountability for these and crimes against humanity.”
Ukraine says Russian attacks have caused extensive damage to its infrastructure. The mayor of Kyiv said 450,000 residents remained without power in the capital on Friday morning, while President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that about 4.5 million people across the country were without power. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke to the G-7 foreign ministers on Thursday about the crisis — but that video link was briefly disrupted by a blackout.
Meanwhile, Russian troops appear poised for a complete withdrawal from the strategic southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Western officials said. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday urged Kherson residents to evacuate, and a Russian-installed official there said Moscow would “likely” pull its troops back — even as some Ukrainian officials warned that Russian troops could be setting up a trap by signaling a retreat — and announced later Friday that a 24-hour-curfew would be imposed in Kherson city.
Here’s the latest on the war and its impact across the world.
4. From our correspondents on the ground
Ukrainian officials have signaled that an assault on Kherson city could be imminent. Russia, however, has shown no indication that it is willing to give up the city, or the broader Kherson region, which carries enormous strategic and political importance for the Kremlin, writes The Post’s Michael Miller. The Kherson region forms the last crucial component of the “land bridge” from mainland Russia to Crimea that Putin has coveted ever since Moscow invaded the peninsula and annexed it illegally in 2014.
Efforts to liberate towns in the region have slowed in recent days, as autumn rains make the ground muddy and Russian defenses don’t appear to be collapsing as they did when Ukrainian forces roared through Kharkiv in September.
Karoun Demirjian in Washington contributed to this report.
Source: WP
