Breaking news from Ukraine – Kyiv is trying to restore the grid after Putin’s rocket attacks left a third of the capital without power

Russia says strikes have disrupted supplies of foreign arms to Ukraine

Russia claimed on Saturday it prevented foreign arms shipments to Ukraine amid mass strikes the day before that led to power and water cuts across the country.

On Friday, “Ukraine’s military command systems, military-industrial complex and supporting power plants were hit by a mass strike with high-precision weapons,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in its daily briefing.

“The goal was achieved. All assigned objects were hit,” he added.

“As a result of the strike, the transfer of foreign-made weapons and ammunition was interrupted, the advance of reserves in hostilities was blocked, and Ukrainian defense enterprises engaged in the manufacture and repair of weapons … stopped”.

Russia fired a barrage of missiles at several cities in Ukraine on Friday, plunging them into darkness, cutting off water and heat and forcing people to endure sub-zero temperatures.

Since October, after a string of embarrassing battlefield defeats, Russia has been pursuing an airstrike on facilities Moscow says are militarily linked.

France and the European Union said the suffering inflicted on civilians constituted war crimes, with the bloc’s foreign policy chief calling the bombings “barbaric”.