Timothy Garton Ash

Putin’s new doctrine is unfolding in Ukrainian homes and streets: more attacks on civilians, more lives destroyed. Seventeen people were killed in Zaporizhzhia today. Three of them children. Before dawn, russian guided bombs hit residential buildings. At least 18 people were injured. Rescuers are still searching the rubble. Families are still waiting for news. By lunchtime, a ballistic missile had hit a restaurant in Kyiv’s Obolon district. In broad daylight. Seven people were reported injured. Across Kyiv, power cuts brought the metro to a halt. Trams and trolleybuses stopped in several districts. Water supplies were disrupted as pumps lost power. In Kharkiv, a drone hit a hospital, injuring four people. In the Nikopol area, an 11-year-old boy was killed. A bedroom. A restaurant. A hospital. Places where people should be safe. These attacks fit the “new doctrine” President Zelenskyy says Ukrainian intelligence has uncovered: Putin widening attacks on civilian targets to frighten people into leaving their cities. As the UN Security Council met at Ukraine’s request to discuss attacks on civilians, russia kept killing them. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha put it plainly: “Russia cannot be allowed to use diplomacy as cover for continued terror.” I think of the parents who went to bed last night believing they would see their children in the morning. Of those now waiting beside the rubble. 🇪🇺🤝🇺🇦