World

MOSCOW — Grain export shipments from Ukraine resumed on Wednesday as Russia said it was rejoining a deal brokered by the UN and Turkey to establish a safe Black Sea corridor.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told parliament that "shipments will continue from 12:00 today (9:00 GMT) as planned", after a call between the Russian and Turkish defence ministers.

Russia's defence ministry confirmed it was resuming participation, saying it had received "sufficient" guarantees from Kyiv on demilitarising the maritime corridor.

"Russia considers that the received guarantees are at the moment sufficient and is resuming the implementation of the agreement," the ministry said.

The deal, overseen by the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, has allowed more than 9.7 million metric tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs to leave Ukrainian ports.

This has brought much-needed relief to a global food crisis triggered by Russia's campaign in Ukraine, a major grain exporter.

Under the terms of the deal, which was agreed in July, ships moving to and from Ukraine are inspected by a joint team of Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian and UN officials.

Russia on Saturday had said it was temporarily pulling out, accusing Ukraine of misusing the safe shipping corridor to launch a drone attack on its Black Sea fleet.

Some shipments in and out of Ukraine continued after that but the UN on Tuesday said there would be no movements on Wednesday.

'Dangerous' without Russia 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday had urged "reliable and long-term protection" of the corridor while Russia's Vladimir Putin demanded "real guarantees".

In a call with Zelensky on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron denounced Russia's decision to exit the deal saying it "again harms global food security".

Ukraine had dismissed Russia’s accusations as a “false pretext” to withdraw from the deal.

The Kremlin has long criticised the deal, claiming that most of the consignments were arriving in Europe, not poor countries where grain was needed most.

Ukrainian officials have denied the claim and data compiled by a monitoring group as part of the accord does not reflect this assertion.

Grain-loaded cargo kept sailing on Monday and Tuesday, but the UN said any ship movements after Russia announced its suspension were “a temporary and extraordinary measure”.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had said on Monday that it was “dangerous” to continue exports without Russia’s participation.

The Russian defence ministry on Wednesday said it obtained written guarantees from Kyiv “thanks to the participation” of the UN and “assistance” from Turkey.

It said Kyiv guaranteed “the non-use of the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports determined in the interests of the export of agricultural products for conducting military operations against the Russian Federation”.

SEOUL — North Korea fired more than 20 missiles on Wednesday, including one that landed close to South Korea's waters in what President Yoon Suk-yeol said was "effectively a territorial invasion".

It also fired an artillery barrage into a maritime "buffer zone" that experts said was part of an "aggressive and threatening" response by Pyongyang to large-scale joint air drills the United States and South Korea are conducting.

One short-range ballistic missile crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border, prompting a rare warning for residents on the island of Ulleungdo to seek shelter in bunkers.

Seoul's military said it was the "first time since the peninsula was divided" at the end of Korean War hostilities in 1953 that a North Korean missile had landed so close to the South's territorial waters.

"President Yoon pointed out today that North Korea's provocation is an effective territorial invasion by a missile," his office said in a statement.

One of the missiles landed in waters just 57 kilometres  east of the mainland, the military said, calling the incident "very rare and intolerable".

Pyongyang fired a total of 23 missiles including seven short-range ballistic missiles and six ground-to-air ones, Seoul's military said.

North Korea also conducted an artillery barrage, firing into a maritime "buffer-zone" set up in 2018 in a bid to reduce tensions between the two countries during an ill-fated bout of diplomacy.

The huge volley of launches were "provocations against South Korea", said Go Myong-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they lead up to a nuclear test," he added.

South Korea, for its part, said it had fired three air-to-ground missiles into the sea towards the north of the two countries' maritime boundary.

President Yoon called a meeting of the National Security Council, ordering "swift and stern measures so that North Korea's provocations pay a clear price".

South Korea closed some air routes over the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, advising local airlines to detour to "ensure passenger safety in the routes to the United States and Japan".

White House national security spokesman John Kirby slammed North Korea as “reckless” for carrying out the launches.

“We... condemn these missile launches and the DPRK’s reckless decision to fire a missile below the de facto maritime boundary with the Republic of Korea,” Kirby said.

European Council President Charles Michel said he was “outraged” by Pyongyang’s “aggressive and irresponsible behaviour” and Russia called for calm.

‘Vigilant Storm’ 

Pyongyang’s day of missile launches came as Seoul and Washington staged their largest-ever joint air drills, dubbed “Vigilant Storm”, which involved hundreds of warplanes from both sides.

Pak Jong Chon, a high-ranking North Korean official, had earlier called the drills aggressive and provocative, according to a report in state media on Wednesday.

Pak said the name of the exercises harked back to Operation Desert Storm, the US-led military assault on Iraq in 1990-1991 after the invasion of Kuwait.

“If the US and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against the (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) without any fear, the special means of the DPRK’s armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay,” he said.

“The US and South Korea will have to... pay the most horrible price in history.”

‘Dangerous situation’ 

North Korea’s missile launches on Wednesday appeared to be “the most aggressive and threatening armed demonstration against the South since 2010”, Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at the Sejong Institute, told AFP.

“It is now a dangerous and unstable situation that could lead to armed conflict,” he added.

In March 2010, a North Korean submarine torpedoed the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, killing 46 sailors, including 16 who were on mandatory military service.

In November of the same year, the North shelled a South Korean border island, killing two marines — both of them young conscripts.

Wednesday’s missile tests follow a recent blitz of launches, including what the North said were tactical nuclear drills.

Washington and Seoul have repeatedly warned the launches could culminate in another nuclear test — which would be Pyongyang’s seventh.

“Pyongyang seems to have completed its most powerful deterrent. This is a serious threat,” Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University, told AFP.

The North’s latest launches came with South Korea in a period of national mourning after more than 150 people — mostly young women in their 20s — were killed in a crowd crush in Seoul on Saturday.

It shows “North Korea’s clear priorities”, Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.

“Pyongyang probably thinks it has no reason to take the Itaewon tragedy into its consideration, as Seoul and Washington’s largest-ever joint air drills are also happening anyway,” he added.

LONDON — A culture of misogyny and predatory behaviour is “prevalent” in many police forces across England and Wales, and fuelled by lax vetting standards, according to a report published on Wednesday after a high-profile murder.

Former metropolitan police officer Wayne Couzens was last year jailed for life for the kidnap, rape and murder of 33-year-old London woman Sarah Everard in 2021, in a case that rocked the country.

Police were criticised for failing to take any action after Couzens allegedly exposed himself in 2015. He was also involved in an incident in 2002 that was missed in his vetting.

The interior minister at the time, Priti Patel, ordered the police watchdog to carry out an investigation into misogynistic and predatory behaviour within police forces.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr found that it was “too easy for the wrong people to both join and stay in the police” and there were “significant questions” over the recruitment of “thousands” of officers.

While the majority of police officers and staff meet the required standards of behaviour, the report found “systemic failings, missed opportunities, and a generally inadequate approach to the setting and maintenance of standards in the police service.

“It is too easy for the wrong people to both join and stay in the police. If the police are to rebuild public trust and protect their own female officers and staff vetting must be much more rigorous and sexual misconduct taken more seriously,” said Parr.

Messages 

The London force tweeted in response that it would be “ruthless in ridding the Met of those who corrupt our integrity.

“We are setting clear expectations of behaviour and are developing data and technology to identify those who are not fit to serve,” it added.

On Wednesday, two Met Police officers were jailed for three months for sharing racist, homophobic, misogynistic and ableist messages in a WhatsApp group with Couzens before he killed Everard.

A court in London was told they joked in the group in 2019 about raping a female colleague, talked about using Taser stun guns on children, mocked people with disabilities and aired racist views.

The messages were discovered after Couzens’ crimes.

Separately, the Met said another police officer had been dismissed without notice after items including drugs and a large quantity of cash were found at his home in 2020.

A misconduct hearing ruled that he “breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of honesty and integrity”, a statement read.

“We are determined to get rid of any officer who fails to meet our standards and ensure that they can never work in law enforcement again,” said Chief Superintendent Owain Richards.

‘Unacceptable’ 

The watchdog report found cases where incidents such as indecent exposure were dismissed as a “one-off” and where applicants with links to “extensive criminality” in their families had been hired.

The report said that “over the last three or four years, the number of people recruited over whom we would raise significant questions is certainly in the hundreds, if not low thousands”.

“Our vetting file review showed that forces had found language and comments on social media, attributable to vetting applicants, that were potentially discriminatory, inflammatory, or extremist,” it added.

“Worryingly, the cases we examined didn’t result in rejection. Instead, forces were addressing this through advice to applicants regarding their future use of social media,” it added.

The watchdog looked at 11,277 police officers and staff and examined 725 vetting files.

An “alarming number” of women alleged “appalling behaviour by male colleagues”. said the report.

Inspectors called for minimum standards for pre-employment checks and for changes to the law dealing with police complaints and disciplinary procedures.

Patel’s successor Suella Braverman said the report shines a “stark light” on problems within the police, adding it was “unacceptable” that women “continue to experience misogynistic and sexist behaviour”.

NAIROBI — Kenya’s President William Ruto announced on Wednesday that Nairobi was deploying troops to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in a joint regional operation against a rebel offensive.

The mineral-rich DRC is struggling to contain dozens of armed groups whose recent advances in the country’s east have revived old animosities and led to a surge in tensions with neighbouring Rwanda.

Leaders of the seven-nation East African Community (EAC) bloc, in which Kenya is the regional heavyweight, agreed in April to establish a joint force to help restore security in the DRC.

Speaking at a ceremony in Nairobi to flag off the deployment, Ruto said the troops were “on a mission to protect humanity”.

“The destiny of DRC is intertwined with ours,” he added, without giving details of the deployment schedule.

“We will not allow any armed groups, criminals and terrorists to deny us our shared prosperity. We owe our brotherly duty to DRC until the job is done.”

Kenya will command the force, which will also include soldiers from Burundi, South Sudan and Uganda.

A Rwandan contingent will be deployed along the border, after Kinshasa objected to Kigali’s participation in any operations within the DRC.

The Kenyan contingent will be deployed for an initial period of six months and will set up its command base in Goma, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) said.

‘Military escalation’ 

Military officials in Nairobi declined to reveal the number of Kenyan soldiers involved, citing “obvious security reasons”.

But the KDF said “close to a thousand” soldiers had undertaken the mandatory pre-deployment training.

A UN force, known by its French acronym of MONUSCO, is already operating in the DRC.

Burundi and Uganda also sent troops to the DRC earlier at the invitation of the Congolese government.

The M23 rebels, a mostly Congolese group, resumed fighting in late 2021 after lying dormant for years, accusing the DRC government of failing to honour an agreement to integrate its fighters into the army.

Fresh advances by the militia across North Kivu province last month prompted the UN peacekeeping mission there to increase its alert level and boost support for the Congolese army.

The M23’s resurgence has had resounding repercussions for relations in central Africa.

The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing the militia, claims denied by Kigali.

On Saturday, Kinshasa decided to expel Rwanda’s ambassador. In turn, Kigali accused its neighbour of being “on the path of continued military escalation”.

As tensions have spiked, DRC residents have staged angry protests against M23 and Kigali, with hundreds taking to the streets in South Kivu province on Wednesday and chanting: “Let the Rwandans go home!”

The demonstration followed a protest on Monday in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, where thousands marched through the city demanding weapons to fight Rwanda.

Calls for ceasefire 

The increase in violence has alarmed the international community, with the African Union appealing for a ceasefire.

Current EAC chairman, Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye, said on Tuesday he held talks with his regional counterparts on “managing the security crisis” and agreed to hold a summit at a date yet to be announced.

The EAC comprises Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

M23 first leapt to prominence in 2012 when it briefly captured Goma before a joint Congolese-UN offensive drove it out.

The militia is one of scores of armed groups in eastern DRC, many of them a legacy of two regional wars that flared late last century.

The groups include the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu rebel group based in the DRC which Kigali views as a threat and has regularly accused Kinshasa of supporting.

While Rwanda has denied backing M23, a report by independent UN experts seen by AFP in August found that Kigali had provided direct support to the militia.

The Allied Democratic Forces  — which Daesh claims as its Central African offshoot — is also active in the region and is accused of slaughtering thousands of Congolese civilians and carrying out bombings in neighbouring Uganda.

AHMEDABAD, India — Indian prosecutors have blamed a company that renovated a suspension bridge for its collapse at the weekend in which more than 130 people were killed.

Contractors installed heavier flooring during work on the 150-year-old bridge in Morbi but did not replace a rusty main cable.

Police believe the structure snapped due to excess weight when it was crowded with visitors on Sunday, plunging 135 people to their deaths in a river below.

Nine people linked to the Oreva group, a watch and e-bike manufacturing firm that had a contract to manage the bridge, have been arrested on manslaughter charges.

Oreva “hired contractors who were not qualified enough”, public prosecutor Harshendu Panchal told reporters after a remand hearing late Tuesday.

“The main cable of the bridge was not changed during renovation,” he said.

“The police also believe that the weight of the bridge increased due to the four-layer aluminium flooring done by the contractors, which may have resulted in the bridge collapse,” he added.

The 230 metre-long structure, a major tourist attraction in the area, was only reopened last Wednesday after nearly seven months of renovations that are said to have cost 20 million rupees ($240,000).

Authorities in the western state of Gujarat say the proper safety certificates were not obtained before visitors were allowed to return. At least 47 of the victims were children.

Oreva had been awarded a 15-year contract by local authorities to operate and maintain the bridge but investigations have since found it had no prior experience on such projects.

However, Oreva Group Manager Deepak Parekh reportedly told the court: “It was the will of God that such an unfortunate incident happened.”

He and another Oreva manager, along with two contractors, were remanded in police custody, while five ticket sellers and security guards for the bridge were sent to prison awaiting trial.

Even in a country where infrastructure is often dilapidated, the bridge disaster is one of the worst in decades and has triggered widespread condemnation and demands for accountability.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the accident site on Tuesday and promised a “detailed and extensive inquiry to identify all aspects relating to the tragedy”.

Flags were flown at half-mast in Gujarat on Wednesday and all official and entertainment events were cancelled.

KYIV — Water and power supplies were fully restored in Kyiv on Tuesday a day after Russian missile strikes, as grain exports from Ukraine continued despite Moscow pulling out of a deal to let ships through.

Russian authorities meanwhile announced that tens of thousands more civilians would be "evacuated" from the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian region of Kherson amid a counter-offensive by Kyiv.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said Monday's bombardment was "one of the most massive shellings of our territory by the army of the Russian Federation".

Following the strikes, aerial views showed Kyiv plunged in darkness overnight, with the only lights coming from cars on the road.

In a town near Kyiv on Monday, the powerful explosions had woken up Mila Ryabova, 39.

Ryabova told AFP that she and her family were "worrying and talking about opportunities to move abroad, because there is a cold winter ahead. We may not have electricity, heat supply".

Monday's shelling had left 80 per cent of the capital's consumers without water and 350,000 homes without electricity.

On Tuesday, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said water and electricity supplies had been "fully restored" in the capital.

Klitschko warned that there would still be planned power cuts in the city "because of the considerable deficit in the power system after the barbaric attacks of the aggressor".

Ukrainian energy operator Ukrenergo said it would limit supplies to all consumers in central and northern regions of the country to "reduce the pressure on the network".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday.

He thanked Macron for “specific decisions on strengthening Ukraine’s defence capabilities. Specific initiatives to restore the destroyed energy infrastructure”.

EU commissioner for energy Kadri Simson arrived in Kyiv “to help scale up support to the Ukrainian energy sector”, she said on Twitter.

The Ukrainian army said Russia launched 55 cruise missiles on Monday, mainly at energy infrastructure.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Russian defence ministry claimed the “massive strikes... significantly disrupted the management and logistics of the Ukrainian armed forces”.

Russia has pivoted to systematically attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure after setbacks on the battlefield, where the Russian army is facing pushbacks on the eastern and the southern fronts.

In the south, Kyiv’s forces are preparing for fierce battles to recapture the city of Kherson and its surrounding region.

Kherson is one of the four regions — along with Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Lugansk — that Moscow claims to have annexed but does not fully control.

New ‘evacuations’ 

from Kherson 

Russian occupation authorities in Kherson said on Tuesday that tens of thousands more people would be “evacuated” from the region amid Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

This comes after 70,000 people already left their homes in Kherson, Moscow-installed local authorities said last week.

The Russian-backed leader of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said Tuesday new resettlements were being carried out because of the risk of a “massive missile attack” by Ukrainian forces on a local dam.

But Ukraine said that Russian “occupiers are carrying out forced displacement of the civilian population”.

“Citizens living in premises along the banks of the Dnipro river are being forcibly evicted from their homes,” the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said on Facebook on Tuesday.

Grain corridor 

Also on Tuesday, three more grain-loaded cargo ships left Ukrainian ports despite Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in a deal to allow grain exports to cross the Black Sea.

Russia announced the move after accusing Kyiv of a “massive” drone attack on its fleet on Saturday, which Ukraine labelled a “false pretext”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country brokered the July grain export agreement along with the United Nations, is to speak with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in the coming days with the aim of restoring the deal.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “risky” to continue the exports without Russia’s consent.

In his evening address Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the grain deal breakdown was “clear evidence that Russia will continue to oppose itself to the entire international community”, adding it was “very important now to prevent this global destabilisation”.

THE HAGUE — Twelve women and 28 children will be repatriated to The Netherlands from detention camps in northern Syria, the Dutch government announced on Tuesday, making the country's largest group yet to be brought back.

They will face charges on their return for joining the Daesh group.

The move comes after a Dutch court in May recommended that the women be returned immediately to The Netherlands, or that a commitment to return then be made within four months.

"The Cabinet is transferring twelve Dutch women suspected of terrorist offences and their 28 children to The Netherlands," two government ministers said.

"The women will be arrested after arrival in the Netherlands and will be tried," Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra and Justice Minister Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius said in a letter to parliament.

The ministerial letter declined to say from which camp the women and children will be fetched or when, adding only it will be done via a "special operation".

The children will be taken into the care of the Dutch child protection services, the ministers added.

Western countries have faced a dilemma over how to handle their citizens detained in Syria since the end of military operations against the Daesh group there in 2019.

Thousands of extremists in Europe decided to join the group as fighters, often taking their wives and children to live in the "caliphate" declared in territory conquered in Iraq and Syria.

Some 300 Dutch citizens travelled to Syria during the height of the civil war, according to Dutch government figures.

About 120 still remain — many in Kurdish-controlled camps and detention centres in northern Syria, or in Iraq and Turkey.

The return of fighters to stand trial in The Netherlands is a politically sensitive subject and the country's anti-terror agency has warned that returning citizens may have an intention to continue "supporting terror activities".

Dutch courts earlier this year sentenced a woman to three-and-a-half years behind bars for joining the now-defunct Daesh group.

The 28-year-old — identified only as Ilham B. — was repatriated last year from the Al Roj detention camp in northeast Syria after she joined Daesh and Jabhat Al  Nusra extremist groups with her husband in 2013.

In February the government also repatriated five women from the Roj camp to face trial in The Netherlands.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Congratulations poured in from across the globe for Brazil's leftist president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after his narrow victory over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro was announced.

Shortly after Lula was declared the winner, US President Joe Biden said: "I send my congratulations to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his election to be the next president of Brazil following free, fair, and credible elections."

French leader Emmanuel Macron also offered his good wishes, saying the poll opened "a new page" in Brazil's history.

"Together, we will join forces to take up the many common challenges and renew the ties of friendship between our two countries," the French president said minutes after the results announcement.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a hearty "Congratulations, Lula!" and said: "The people of Brazil have spoken."

Trudeau said he looked forward to working with Lula, who served as Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010, to "advance shared priorities — like protecting the environment".

All eyes in Western capitals have been on the election's impact on the future of the Amazon rainforest and the global climate emergency.

President Alberto Fernandez of neighbouring Argentina said Lula's win "opens a new era for the history of Latin America. A time of hope and future that begins today".

"After so many injustices you lived through, the people of Brazil have elected you and democracy has triumphed," he added in a tweet.

After leaving office, Lula was imprisoned for 18 months on controversial and since-quashed corruption charges.

Lula's return to power in Brazil follows a string of left-wing wins in Latin America.

Gustavo Petro, who became Colombia's first leftist president after his election this summer, tweeted "Long live Lula."

He later shared a map showing that the majority of Latin American countries are now led by leftist governments.

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, also from the left wing, tweeted: "Lula won, blessed people of Brazil. There will be equality and humanism."

And Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro offered a "big hug" to Lula, saying in a tweet: "Long live the peoples determined to be free, sovereign and independent! Today in Brazil democracy triumphed."

Fellow members of the BRICS group of emerging economies also extended their congratulations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped for “constructive” cooperation.

“Please accept my sincere congratulations... the election results have confirmed your impressive political authority,” Putin said in a telegram to Lula.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping wished the country “new successes”.

“I am willing to work with President-elect Lula to make joint plans from a strategic height and long-term perspective, and take the China-Brazil comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level,” he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he looked forward “to working closely together to further deepen and widen our bilateral relations”.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also said his country “looks forward to working with the government of Brazil under the leadership of Mr da Silva”.

The European Union’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell joined the international chorus.

“Brazilian citizens went to the polls to elect their new president in a peaceful and well-organised election.”

Borrell was followed by other European well-wishers, including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

“Congratulations Lula on your victory... Let’s work together for social justice, equality and against climate change,” Sanchez tweeted.

Baerbock said Brazil’s democracy was “the biggest winner”, after the closely fought election.

“Another big winner is the world’s climate,” she said.

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he looked forward to working together on issues, including “growing the global economy to protecting the planet’s natural resources and promoting democratic values”.

KYIV,  Ukraine — Ukraine suffered sweeping blackouts and water supplies were cut for 80 per cent of Kyiv residents on Monday after another wave of Russian missile strikes on key infrastructure.

The Ukrainian army said "more than 50" cruise missiles were launched at targets across the country, days after Russia blamed Ukraine for drone attacks on its fleet in the Black Sea.

The army said many missiles were shot down by air defences but Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said they had caused power cuts in "hundreds" of areas across seven Ukrainian regions. Several blasts were heard in the capital Kyiv.

"Currently, due to the emergency situation in Kyiv, 80 per cent of consumers remain without water supply," the city's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

“Engineers are also working to restore power to 350,000 homes in Kyiv that were left without electricity,” he added.

In the west of Kyiv, an AFP journalist saw over 100 people waiting patiently to collect water from a park fountain after their supply was cut off by the Russian attack.

All of them carried empty plastic bottles to be filled.

“Russian terrorists have again launched a massive attack against electricity installations,” said the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidency, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter: “Instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia fights civilians.”

The Russian army confirmed it had carried out cruise missile strikes and said they had all reached their intended targets.

‘Cold winter ahead’ 

Three missiles struck a site to the north of Kyiv, a soldier close to the target told AFP.

“It is dangerous here because there could be more strikes,” the soldier said at a blocked crossroads.

In a nearby town, Mila Ryabova, 39, told AFP she was woken by between eight and 10 “powerful explosions”.

“We were together with my family, preparing my daughter for school, but now there is no electricity in our house and at school,” said Ryabova, a translator.

“I’m not afraid of anything. [Some people] are still in shelters now, but not us.

“But we are worrying and talking about opportunities to move abroad, because there is a cold winter ahead. We may not have electricity, heat supply. It can be hard to handle, especially with a small child.”

Previous strikes this month have already destroyed around a third of Ukraine’s power stations.

In Moldova, the government said a Russian missile shot down by Ukrainian air defences fell on a village in the north of the country, but without causing any injuries.

The country’s interior ministry said the missile fell on the village of Naslavcea close to the Ukrainian border.

Grain deal 

Monday’s attack comes after Russia pulled out of a landmark agreement that allowed vital grain shipments via a maritime safety corridor.

The July deal to unlock grain exports signed between warring nations Russia and Ukraine — and brokered by Turkey and the United Nations — is critical to easing the global food crisis caused by the conflict.

But Russia announced on Saturday it would suspend its participation in the deal after accusing Kyiv of a “massive” drone attack on its Black Sea fleet, which Ukraine labelled a “false pretext”.

Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea has been targeted several times in recent months and serves as the fleet’s headquarters and a logistical hub for operations in Ukraine.

Despite Russia’s decision, at least 10 cargo ships loaded with grain and other agricultural products left Ukrainian ports on Monday, according to a marine traffic website.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that continuing grain exports without Russian participation was “hardly feasible”.

“It takes on a different character, much more risky, dangerous,” he said.

In all, 12 ships were due to leave Ukraine on Monday and four were to head to the country, according to the Joint Coordination Centre that has been overseeing the agreement.

“Civilian cargo ships can never be a military target or held hostage. The food must flow,” Amir Abdulla, UN coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, said on Twitter.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country has stayed neutral throughout the eight-month war in Ukraine, vowed to pursue efforts to keep the agreement in force despite Russia’s moves.

“Although Russia acts hesitantly... we will resolutely continue our efforts to serve humanity,” Erdogan said in a televised address.

MORBI, India — Nine people were arrested on Monday in connection with the collapse of a pedestrian bridge in western India that killed at least 137 people, police said.

The nine — all associated with a company that maintained the bridge in Morbi — were being investigated for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, senior police officer Ashok Kumar Yadav said in a statement.

The bridge, which had reopened days earlier after months of renovation, collapsed on Sunday evening, sending hundreds tumbling into the river in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat.

Authorities said nearly 500 people were celebrating the last day of the Diwali festival on and around the nearly 150-year-old suspension bridge when supporting cables snapped.

CCTV footage showed the structure swaying — with a few people apparently deliberately rocking it — before it suddenly gave way.

The walkway and one fence crashed into the Machchhu River, leaving the other side dangling in mid-air as people fell into the water in the dark.

"I saw the bridge collapse before my eyes," said one witness who worked all night on rescue efforts, without giving his name.

"It was traumatic when a woman showed me a photo of her daughter and asked if I had rescued her. I could not tell her that her daughter had died."

Supran, another witness, said the bridge, which was a popular tourist attraction, was "jam-packed".

"The cables snapped and the bridge came down in a split second. People fell on each other and into the river," he told local media.

After the collapse, people clung to the twisted remains of the bridge or tried to swim to safety in the dark.

Many Indians cannot swim and another Morbi resident, Ranjanbhai Patel, said he helped pull out those who had been able to reach the banks.

"As most of the people had fallen into the river, we were not able to save them," he said.

Local police chief P. Dekavadiya said that by Monday afternoon the death toll had risen to 137. They included around 50 children, the youngest being a two-year-old boy.

One local MP, Kalyanji Kundariya, told media he had lost 12 family members in the accident, including five children.

‘No certificate’ 

Authorities launched a rescue operation immediately following the collapse, with boats and divers searching the river all night and throughout Monday.

The bridge, 233 metres long and 1.5 metres wide, was inaugurated in 1880 by British colonial authorities and made with materials shipped from England, reports said.

The Gujarat tourist department describes the “grand suspension bridge” about 200 kilometres west of the state’s main city, Ahmedabad, as an “artistic and technological marvel”.

Sandeepsinh Jhala, Morbi municipality’s chief officer, said the bridge had not been issued a safety certificate after the recent repair work.

Reports named the firm that carried out the repairs as a unit of the Gujarat-based Oreva group, which describes itself as the world’s largest clock manufacturer, and also makes lighting products and e-bikes. The company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Modi, who was due to visit the site on Tuesday, said that he “may rarely have experienced so much pain in my life”.

Moscow and New Delhi have enjoyed close relations for decades and the Kremlin said in a statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was “deeply saddened” while Nepal, Bhutan, Britain and France also sent messages of support.

Accidents from old and poorly maintained infrastructure, including bridges, are common in India.

In 2016, the collapse of a flyover onto a busy street in Kolkata killed at least 26 people.

Five years earlier, at least 32 people perished when a packed bridge collapsed in the hill resort of Darjeeling.