{"text":[[{"start":7.68,"text":"A massive Russian drone and missile attack targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure across the country overnight on Tuesday, as Moscow ratchets up its deadly air campaign ahead of winter."}],[{"start":18.56,"text":"More than a dozen energy facilities were hit across nine regions, according to Ukrainian authorities. The country’s air force reported intercepting just three of the 17 Russian ballistic missiles fired by Moscow, highlighting Kyiv’s acute shortage of air-defence interceptors."}],[{"start":33.74,"text":"“Ukraine must be helped to defend its skies, otherwise Russia will never stop its missile strikes,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded on Tuesday."}],[{"start":42.44,"text":"The assault continued during the day and represents “one of the largest attacks on Ukraine’s energy” state grid operator Ukrenergo said."}],[{"start":50.44,"text":"Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK said three of its power plants were knocked offline by “dozens of missiles and drones”. Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said power plants and substations had been hit in nine regions."}],[{"start":63.6,"text":"Russia “is dangerously escalating its efforts to deny Ukrainians critical services like energy this winter”, DTEK executive Maxim Timchenko told the FT."}],[{"start":73.32,"text":"Moscow’s intensifying campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has already led to power outages in Kyiv, sometimes lasting more than 10 hours, and in several other regions, just as temperatures begin to drop."}],[{"start":85.92,"text":"“This year, the Russians have adopted a new tactic: they’re striking not only power generation facilities but also carrying out strikes against the power grid, against energy distribution infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said in a video address on Monday."}],[{"start":98.64,"text":"A devastating attack on a village near the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region also killed dozens of civilians on Monday. A first wave of gliding bombs pushed civilians to seek shelter within a closed school used as a humanitarian distribution point. Nine three-ton gliding bombs levelled the building, with footage showing craters several metres deep and a few slabs of concrete where the building stood. The bombing took place as locals were gathering for a distribution of humanitarian aid announced a day earlier on social media."}],[{"start":127.56,"text":"Officials said the strike killed at least 31 people, including two emergency workers, with 48 people still unaccounted for in what is likely to be one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since 2022. Deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime under international law."}],[{"start":144.7,"text":"“The timing and location of the humanitarian distribution were well publicised,” Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said on Tuesday."}],[{"start":155.16,"text":"“Either the Russian armed forces knew that there was a humanitarian distribution taking place, or they failed to take the most basic steps to find out what was happening in this village they were planning to attack. In either case, this attack seems to have violated the most fundamental principles of international humanitarian law,” she added."}],[{"start":174.28,"text":"The United Nations’ monitoring mission in Ukraine warned last month the intensifying Russian attacks “continued a pattern of civilian casualties in 2026 far exceeding levels verified in previous years”. The mission said it had confirmed 328 civilian deaths in September, a sharp rise from the 249 people killed last year in the same period."}],[{"start":195.64,"text":"Bolstered by the mass production of a new generation of jet-powered drones and cheap cruise missiles that Ukrainian forces struggle to intercept, the Russian attacks have also expanded beyond energy to target Ukrainian logistics and business infrastructure. Koretskyi said the most recent attack also damaged several passenger train carriages and locomotives, as well as the railway station itself, in the south-central city of Zaporizhzhia."}],[{"start":219.92,"text":"Multiple drones also targeted the train station in the nearby city of Dnipro last week, killing 15 people when one of the drones hit a railway platform."}],[{"start":228.84,"text":"Washington has sought to revive a peace process that has stalled since the start of the war in Iran in February. Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said on Monday Ukrainian, Russian and US negotiating teams would meet in Abu Dhabi next week for discussions “on postwar security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, and next steps towards peace”."}],[{"start":250.32,"text":"Serhii Beskrestnov, a presidential adviser on military-technological issues, told reporters last week the intensification of the strikes came right as Russian advances have markedly slowed on the front line in recent months."}],[{"start":264.3,"text":"“We’re holding the front . . . and we all understand now that it’s not so much about a war of fronts as it is about a war of cities,” he said."}],[{"start":276.32,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793784125_8161.mp3"}