美国国家公共电台 NPR--Updates on the latest strikes in Ukraine

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Updates on the latest strikes in Ukraine

Transcript¹

Ukraine says it shot down many of the missiles sent by Russia on Monday, but the ones that got through have caused a lot of damage.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Authorities in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv say water service has been restored a day after Russia launched another barrage² of missiles across the country. More than 80% of residents in the capital temporarily had no running water after yesterday's attacks.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Ukraine says it shot down most of these missiles, but enough got through to cause damage. That is one of the developments in the war. Another is on the shores of the Black Sea. Twelve ships safely departed Ukrainian ports yesterday. They carried hundreds of thousands of tons of grain even though Russia has pulled out of a U.N.-backed agreement for safe passage.

MART?NEZ: NPR correspondent Franco Ordo?ez is in Odesa, where several of the ships departed. Franco, what can you tell us about these latest attacks?

FRANCO ORDO?EZ, BYLINE³: Yeah, A, the Ukrainian military says Russia launched more than 50 cruise missiles across the country, but 45 were knocked down. But those that got through caused a lot of damage. You mentioned some of the water issues in Kyiv. The mayor, Vitali Klitschko, also said some 350,000 apartments lost power because of the attack. And the Ukrainians say the Russians are not going after military targets, but civilian⁴ infrastructure⁵, heat and water. All this as the winner is obviously drawing closer. Russia's President Vladimir Putin says the attacks are at least in part in response to the alleged⁶ drone strike on Russia's Black Sea fleet off the Crimean Peninsula. And he added, quote, "it wasn't all we could have done."

MART?NEZ: Wait. So tell us more about that because Putin also suspended Russia's participation⁷ in the grain deal in response to that attack. Some of the ships did get out yesterday, as we mentioned.

ORDO?EZ: Right. Twelve ships were - left Ukrainian ports yesterday, four from here in Odesa. They were carrying 350,000 tons of grain on their way to Istanbul for inspections⁸ before traveling further to Africa and Asia and Europe. There are more being loaded. But there are concerns about what will happen to them and their cargo⁹. There was a huge international outcry from Western leaders, calling out Russia's decision and charging them with contributing to rising food prices and global hunger.

You know, the White House says Moscow is weaponizing food. President Biden called the actions purely¹⁰ outrageous¹¹. I will note, A, that Putin does seem to be leaving the door open a little bit. In a public appearance yesterday, he said, quote, "we are not saying that we are stopping our participation in this operation. We are saying that we are pausing it."

MART?NEZ: OK. So it appears the ships that left yesterday are safe. But, I mean, are Ukrainians worried about this ambiguity¹² on the Russians' part?

ORDO?EZ: Yeah. I mean, it is a risk. There is no question that people are looking at the fact that these ships got out safely as a positive thing. But what about the next ships that sail? I spoke¹³ about this with Elena Neroba. She's a Ukrainian analyst¹⁴ with the grain trading firm Maxigrain.

ELENA NEROBA: Everything looks OK so far. But there is a high risk that Russia can attack this vessel¹⁵ or attack Ukrainian port facilities.

ORDO?EZ: So A, there is a lot of uncertainty¹⁶. It's a really tense time around here. But she points out that Russians have attacked ports in the past. In fact, on Sunday, Russia hit a marine¹⁷ terminal at the Mykolaiv port, which is just 2 hours - about 2 hours away from Odesa.

MART?NEZ: That's NPR's Franco Ordo?ez in Odesa, Ukraine. Franco, thanks.

ORDO?EZ: Thanks, A.