​Putin launches ‘massive’ revenge strike ​

Russian strikes have knocked out electricity and water in parts of Kyiv as part of an apaprent revenge attack by Vladimir Putin.

Explosions rocked the capital city, days after Moscow accused Kyiv of a “massive” drone attack on its Black Sea fleet.

Power engineers are currently working to restore electricity supply, as an estimated 350,000 homes in Kyiv sit without power.

Ukraine’s Air Force says Russia fired more than 50 missiles at targets across the country and that air defences shot down 44.

Kyiv had already been hit on October 10 and 17 by drones.

Striking footage showed Kyiv residents milling around as normal in the city centre despite receiving a government emergency phone alert that more strikes were on the way.

Monday’s attack on the Ukrainian capital comes after Russia pulled out of a landmark agreement that allowed vital grain shipments via a maritime safety corridor.

The July deal to unlock grain exports signed between warring nations Russia and Ukraine — and brokered by Turkey and the United Nations — is critical to easing the global food crisis caused by the conflict.

“(A) bulk carrier loaded with 40 tons of grain was supposed to leave the Ukraine port today,” Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted.

“These foodstuffs were intended for Ethiopians, that are on the verge of famine. But due to the blockage of the ‘grain corridor’ by Russia the export is impossible,” the Ukrainian minister said.

The agreement, which established a corridor through which vessels could travel to Istanbul for inspections, had already allowed more than nine million tonnes of Ukrainian grain to be exported and was due to be renewed on November 19.

But Russia announced Saturday it would pull out of the deal after accusing Kyiv of a “massive” drone attack on its Black Sea fleet, which Ukraine labelled a “false pretext”.

US President Joe Biden called the move “purely outrageous” while Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Moscow was “weaponising food”.
 

Russia’s defence ministry alleged Sunday the attack drones had “Canadian-made navigation modules”, and that they “were moving in the safe zone of the ‘grain corridor’”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday expressed “deep concern” about the situation, his spokesman said, and delayed his departure for an Arab League Summit in Algiers by a day “to focus on the issue”.

The EU on Sunday urged Russia to “revert its decision”.