Russia using cold as ‘weapon of mass destruction’: Zelensky

PARIS: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Russia was trying to use the cold this winter as a “weapon of mass destruction” by striking energy infrastructure.

“The Kremlin wants to transform the cold this winter into a weapon of mass destruction,” Zelensky told a meeting of French mayors in a video message. “To survive this winter and to prevent Russia transforming the cold into an instrument of terror and submission, we need a lot of things,” he added.

He urged the Association of French Mayors to send generators, support for de-mining operations and equipment for Ukraine´s emergency services and medics. “I call on you to be very concrete with your help and to support out towns and communities against terrorism,” he added.

The World Health Organization warned on Monday that millions of Ukrainian lives were at risk as the country´s power grid struggles under a barrage of Russian attacks. Moscow has been deliberately targeting energy infrastructure, leaving millions of homes across the country without electricity as temperatures plunge. “This winter will be about survival,” WHO regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, told reporters on Monday, adding it would be “life-threatening for millions of people in Ukraine”.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian investigators said on Tuesday that a prison official in the recently liberated city of Kherson was suspected of committing treason for releasing inmates before the Russian army´s retreat.

On November 11, the Russian army pulled forces from the southern city of Kherson, in a major setback in a region President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed.

On Tuesday, Ukraine´s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) said that an official in charge of security at a local prison collaborated with the Russian forces and allowed inmates to flee ahead of Russia´s retreat.

“The SBI detained a traitor from the Kherson colony, who released prisoners before the liberation of the city,” it said in a statement.

“On the day Kherson was liberated from the occupiers, the colony employee pretended not to notice the escape of the prisoners and did not take any action to prevent it.” He himself did not have the time to escape and was detained, the SBI added.

The former employee is suspected of committing state treason and could face up to life in prison. Last week, Ukraine said it had detained a Russian serviceman wearing civilian clothes in recaptured Kherson, who was pretending to be a local but later admitted to being a professional soldier.

Ukrainian authorities and witnesses say that the Russian troops have left a trail of misery and destruction upon their retreat of Kherson.

On Monday, Kyiv authorities said four Russian torture sites had been discovered in the city. Meanwhile, the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula in Ukraine was targeted by a drone attack on Tuesday and Moscow´s forces there were “on alert”, Kremlin-installed authorities said.

“There is an attack with drones,” the governor of the Sevastopol administrative region in Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram. “Our air defence forces are working right now,” he said, adding two drones had “already been shot down”. Razvozhayev said no civilian infrastructure had been damaged and called on residents to “remain calm”.