US says Russia targeting Ukraine's power grid to freeze war-torn nation 'into submission'

US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield has stated that Russia’s missile strikes targeting Ukrainian power grids are aimed to freeze the war-ridden nation “into submission”. She spoke at the security council meeting discussing attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure on Wednesday and said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was insistent on reducing Ukrainian energy infrastructure to “rubble” as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine drags on, Newsweek reported. 

Meanwhile, President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus issued a stark warning that Kyiv must put an end to the war if "they don't want to perish." Calling for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, Lukashenko added that the Eastern European nation is at risk of "complete destruction." 

He stated that the outcome of the war was in “Ukraine’s hands now,” and said that Russian President Putin had warned before initiating the special military operation that “it (the war) would threaten the loss of Ukrainian statehood,” he iterated during an interview with RBC on Thursday. 

Russia attempting to ‘weaponize’ winter 

Calling Russian strikes against the Ukrainian power grid a “cold-blooded” move by President Putin, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, “He is clearly—clearly—weaponizing winter to inflict immense suffering on the Ukrainian people.” She further accused President Putin of trying to freeze Ukraine into submission if “he can't seize Ukraine by force”. 

As per the reports, Russia has been conducting missile strikes targeting energy facilities throughout Ukraine, causing blackouts and power outages across the country ahead of the infamously harsh winter of the region. 

Russia struck Ukraine's power grid again on Wednesday killing three people after the strike hit a building in Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities in the capital told VOA News. This subsequently resulted in power outages in multiple cities including Moldova and Kyiv. According to Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the CEO of Ukrainian energy company Ukrenegro, the recent strike by Russia destroyed all thermal and hydraulic power plants across Ukraine. 

Meanwhile, addressing the Russian missile strike against its energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said later on Wednesday that Ukraine will pitch forward a resolution condemning “any forms of energy terror.” 

“It’s nonsense that the veto right is secured for the party that wages this war, this criminal war,” Zelenskyy said while referring to Russia’s likely veto to the resolution. Furthermore, the Ukrainian President invited the United Nations to send experts to examine and evaluate Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.