Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday called on the UN Security Council to take action to end Russian airstrikes against vital infrastructure in his country, which left Ukrainian cities without electricity and heating for another day ahead of the coming winter, Reuters reported.

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Earlier in the day, Russia launched a massive missile attack on the territory of Ukraine, shutting down nuclear power plants and causing the death of civilians in the capital, Kyiv.

About 80% of households in Kyiv are without water and electricity

70 rockets were fired at us today alone.

This is the Russian formula for terror, Zelensky said, specifying that hospitals, schools, transport infrastructure and residential areas were hit.

Ukraine expects to see a "very firm response" to the airstrikes from the world, he added.

"With temperatures below zero, several million people are without electricity, without heating and without water, this is clearly a crime against humanity," Zelensky said in a short statement via video link to the Security Council at an emergency meeting requested by himself, according to AFP.

The Ukrainian president said the international community cannot "become hostage to an international terrorist", alluding to Moscow's veto power, which blocks any resolution against Russian aggression in Ukraine.

He called for Russia to be denied a vote on any decision related to its actions.

"Russia is doing everything to turn an energy generator into a more powerful tool than the UN Charter," Zelensky said.

"The killing of civilians, the destruction of civilian infrastructure constitute an act of terrorism. Ukraine continues to demand a decisive response from the international community to these crimes," the Ukrainian president tweeted earlier in the day, demanding an urgent meeting of the 15-member Security Council security.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Russian President Vladimir Putin "is clearly using winter as a weapon to cause enormous suffering to the Ukrainian people."

The Russian president will try to freeze the country into submission, she added.

Russia's ambassador to the world body, Vasyl Nebenzya, responded by saying it was against Council rules for Zelensky to speak via video link, and rejected what he called "reckless threats and ultimatums" by Ukraine and its Western backers.

Nebenzya noted that the damage to Ukraine's infrastructure was caused by missiles fired from air defense systems that fell into civilian areas after being fired at Russian missiles.

He called on the West to stop supplying Ukraine with air defense missiles.

The damage to residential buildings and the casualties among the civilian population are in fact the fault of the Ukrainian air defense, which is located not on the outskirts of the cities, but in their very center.

As a result, debris from missiles or Ukrainian missiles that deviated from the course fall into objects that Russia did not aim at, Nebenzya explained, quoted by TASS.

Russian invasion of Ukraine