Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

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Russia rained cruise missiles on busy Ukrainian cities during morning rush hour in its most widespread air strikes since the start of the war and what President Vladimir Putin called revenge for a blown up bridge.

CONFLICT

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* At least 11 people were killed and 64 wounded in Russian missile strikes across Ukraine, the state emergency service said.

* Russia’s defense ministry said it had hit “all designated targets” in its massive missile attack on Ukrainian military, communications and energy infrastructure.

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* Putin said Ukraine had carried out “terrorist acts” against Russia and pledged to react forcefully if they continued.

* Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of trying to wipe his country “off the face of the earth” and his defense ministry vowed revenge for the attacks. Its top general, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said Ukraine had shot down at least 43 Russian missiles of some 81 launched.

* Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said 11 infrastructure facilities in eight regions and in the capital of Kyiv were damaged in the latest flurry of Russian strikes.

* The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had temporarily halted its work in Ukraine for security reasons.

* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he had ordered troops to deploy with Russian forces near Ukraine in response to what he said was a clear threat to Belarus from Kyiv and its Western backers.

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ECONOMY, DIPLOMACY

* Putin may meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan this week to discuss a Turkish proposal to host talks between Russia and the West on Ukraine, the Kremlin said.

* The European Commission condemned as “barbaric” Russia’s missile strikes on Ukrainian cities and warned Belarus against helping its ally kill civilians. France’s foreign minister said targeting civilians was a war crime.

* India, which has not joined the chorus of Western condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to diplomacy.

* Group of Seven leaders will hold a call on Tuesday with Ukraine’s Zelenskiy, British Prime Minister Liz Truss’s spokesman said.

* Ukraine’s economy shrank an estimated 30% in the first three quarters of 2022 from the same period in 2021, with bad harvest weather compounding the war’s impact, the economy ministry said.

QUOTES

* “They (Russians) want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system,” Zelenskiy said in a video post that showed him outside his presidential office. “The second target is people. Such a time and such targets were specially chosen to cause as much damage as possible.” (Compiled by Simon Cameron-Moore, Gareth Jones and Tomasz Janowski)