‘Russian terrorists were not successful’, says Ukrainian MP

We’re joined from Kyiv by the Ukrainian MP Mariia Mezentseva.

Ciaran Jenkins: Mariia, we’ve just seen pictures of that vast hydropower plant near Kyiv. Why is it such a worry that that’s being targeted now by the Russians?

Mariia Mezentseva: Well, they failed today, and I must say that the very last examinations can tell us that they were not successful. So Russian terrorists were not successful. The scene that I was witnessing right now with other viewers of your channel, at least 52,000 people rescuing in the shelter in metro stations. Dozens and thousands of those who were born today could not be born normally. They had to be taken immediately to the shelter from maternity leave hospitals. Many were wounded. And, as you mentioned, six were killed. All this is an effect of very targeted Russian attacks on exclusive sites for electricity and water supply, of course, including residential buildings – high storey buildings and private houses. I myself was leaving Kharkiv, it was the only train that was on time today from my region because all others were forced to be delayed. So it caused a lot of disruptions in transportation, and it caused many difficulties in logistics for the whole country, most of which was targeted today in the morning.

Ciaran Jenkins: And Mariia, you point to the targeting of energy infrastructure. We hear that 60% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has now been knocked out.

Mariia Mezentseva: That’s correct.

Ciaran Jenkins: Do you think this could be the worst winter of the war that’s coming?

Mariia Mezentseva: We are thinking and we are being told that every winter might be the worst, but we want this winter to be the best one. Probably, if we may say we’re trying to redirect our facilities in terms of energy, we’re trying to make less dependent regions on the centralised system and diversify it where we can. So, for instance, in my home city, Kharkiv, electricity abruptions are way lower than in Kyiv because of the amount of people living here, IDPs [internally displaced persons] that were forced to stay here. So that all matters. Of course, during summer we were not having holidays at all. We were trying to conduct this important task set up by President Zelenskyy for the Minister of Energy…

Ciaran Jenkins: I wanted to ask you about President Zelenskyy asking the US, in particular, to allow Ukraine to target sites deep into Russian territory with long range missiles. Do you think that President Biden will ever agree?

Mariia Mezentseva: I think that the terrorist attacks that occurred all over the country today must strengthen the international response. So UK, France, US and other NATO allies to lift up the limitation for the long range missiles for the purpose of targeting despots of evil. We have proven how effective we can be. I think we can prove it again because the autumn and winter and hard times are coming. There should be no protracted decisions currently.