November 23, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

At least four people were killed and 34 injured after a Russian missile strike in the Kyiv region, the head of the region's military administration, Oleksii Kuleba, said in an update.

Five of the injured are children, he said.

Power supply at the sites of the strikes will be repaired in the “coming hours,” he added, urging people not to panic. 

“All services and emergency teams are working at the sites of the strikes. Power engineers have already started to restore power supply. Repair teams are working,” he said. 

All critical infrastructure — including hospitals — are operating on generators, and temporary shelters have been established.

The large-scale Russian missile assault on Ukrainian energy infrastructure Wednesday left most power plants de-energized and the vast majority of people without power, Ukraine's Ministry of Energy said in a statement on Facebook.

Engineers were working to restore the power supply “as soon as possible” but the scale of the damage meant it “will take time,” the ministry said.

The European Union Parliament website has been hit by a “sophisticated cyberattack,” the parliament's President Roberta Metsola said Wednesday.  

It came after the parliament earlier Wednesday voted in favor to recognize Russia as “a state sponsor of terrorism,” in what has been considered a symbolic move.   

“Our IT experts are pushing back against it & protecting our systems. This, after we proclaimed Russia as a State-sponsor of terrorism. My response: #SlavaUkraini,” Metsola said in a tweet.  

The EU parliament website is currently down and is “impacted from outside,” Jaume Duch, an EU parliament spokesperson, said in a tweet.  

“This traffic is related to a DDOS attack (Distributed Denial of Service) event,” he added.  

It is not clear who is behind the cyberattack.  

Russia launched 70 missiles at Ukraine on Wednesday in its latest “large-scale attack on crucial infrastructure facilities,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Telegram.

Fifty-one of the 70 missiles were intercepted, as well as five attack drones, the military's statement read. 

The missiles were launched from two small missile-carrying ships in — and aircraft over — the Black Sea; from TU-95MS missile carriers in Volgodonsk in southern Russia; and from the Caspian Sea. 

More than 30 missiles flew towards the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Vitali Klitschko told Ukrainian television.

“According to the military, 31 missiles flew towards Kyiv. Twenty-one missiles were shot down,” he said. 

Some of the missiles hit critical infrastructure facilities, he added.

The blackouts are affecting businesses in the city. 

CNN's Yulia Kesaieva reports that no shops, cafes or restaurants are open in the Podilskyi district. “There are huge traffic jams and some of the traffic lights are not working. Policemen are coordinating the traffic at the busiest junctions. Some people are waiting next to the entrances to the supermarkets, asking each other if they have power at home, and where to buy bread and hot meals," Kesaieva said.

The US will provide $400 million in additional security assistance to Ukraine, the White House announced Wednesday in a memo.

According to a statement from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the drawdown "includes additional arms, munitions, and air defense equipment from U.S. Department of Defense inventories."

A White House official said that the package has "additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), 150 heavy machine guns with thermal imagery sights to counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS); additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), 200 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds," and more.

Total US military assistance for Ukraine amounts to approximately $19.7 billion since the beginning of the Biden administration, Blinken's statement added.  

"We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, so it can continue to defend itself and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table when the time comes," Blinken said.

A 17-year-old girl was one of three people killed when Russia shelled the Ukrainian capital Kyiv Wednesday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on Telegram. 

“Three people were killed as a result of today's missile shelling of the capital. A 17-year-old girl was among them,” he said. “Eleven residents of the capital were injured. 10 of them were hospitalized in medical facilities in the city. One victim was treated on the scene.” 

Thirty-five Russian prisoners of war were exchanged with Ukraine and returned to Russia following negotiations, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

“On November 23, as a result of the negotiation process, 35 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime, who were in mortal danger in captivity,” a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

“Aircraft of the military transport aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces will transport the released servicemen to Moscow for treatment and rehabilitation at medical institutions of the Russian Defense Ministry,” it said.

All those released will be given medical and psychological assistance, the Ministry of Defense said. 

Earlier, Denis Pushilin, the leader of the separatist Donetsk region, said on his Telegram channel that Russia and Ukraine conducted a prisoner exchange according to the formula "35 for 35."

“Among our released people there were four from the Donetsk People’s Republic, two from the Luhansk People’s Republic,” he said.

There are power outages across every region of Ukraine following a barrage of Russian missile strikes targeting the country’s critical infrastructure on Wednesday afternoon, national power supply company Ukrenergo said in a statement posted to Facebook. 

Ukrenergo advised everyone in Ukraine to make note of locations it described as "points of invincibility," where “electricity, mobile communication and Internet, heating, water and first aid kits” would be available in the event of “significant” interruptions. 

Kyiv regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said that a residential building in the district of Vyshgorod had been hit, as well as the village of Chabany. More than 20 people were injured, he said.