Ukraine says Russia has launched a wave of missile attacks across the country including in the capital, Kyiv, where two explosions were heard
Kyiv’s mayor says parts of the capital are without power and water
Russia has been stepping up its attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure as winter approaches
Officials say power cuts have also been reported in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia in the south
It comes after Russia accused Ukraine of a "massive" drone attack on the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, Crimea
Russia has announced it is pulling out of the internationally-brokered deal that allows Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports
Speaking on Ukrainian TV, the country's police chief Ihor Klymenko said that 13 people were injured as a result of the Russian attacks across Ukraine this morning.
The attacks damaged 18 facilities in 10 regions, most of them energy facilities.
Ukraine's defence ministry has referenced Halloween in a tweet about a wave of missile attacks across the country this morning.
"On the occasion of Halloween, the Russians decided to carry out another act of missile terror," the ministry said.
Referring to US-supplied anti-tank and long-range missile systems, it added: "Saint Javelin and Saint HIMARS will subdue the evil spirits."
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Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Russia targeted 10 Ukrainian regions and damaged 18 mostly energy-related facilities.
He added that the consequences could have been worse but air defences knocked out 44 of the more than 50 missiles that were fired, Reuters reports.
Ukraine is a major supplier of key crops, but millions of tonnes of grain and foodstuffs like maize and sunflower oil had been stuck in Ukraine after Russia's invasion.
The first shipment under the UN grain deal left on 1 August, after Russia lifted its naval blockade of Ukraine, allowing ships to use a safe corridor through the Black Sea.
As of 28 October, more than 9.3 million tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs had been shipped from Ukrainian ports, according to the UN., external
In September, they exported more than four million tonnes, as the pace of shipments under the grain deal picked up, but still below pre-war levels.
Image source, .About 20 million tonnes of grain meant for export was trapped in Ukraine since February, along with other foodstuffs such as maize and sunflower oil.
This caused an undersupply of food and soaring prices in many countries around the world, as Ukraine is a major source of their food imports.
Image source, .The Kremlin says it is now "risky" for Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea after Russia pulled out of a deal to facilitate shipments over the weekend.
Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the internationally-brokered deal is now “hardly feasible” and “takes on a different character – much more risky, dangerous and unguaranteed”.
Russia pulled out of the deal on Saturday after what it said was a major Ukrainian drone attack on its Black Sea fleet in Crimea.
Peskov refused to comment when asked what would need to happen from Russia’s perspective for the deal to be resumed.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of “blackmailing the world with hunger”.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesFrance is working to enable Ukraine grain exports via land routes in conjunction with other EU states, the farm minister in Paris said.
His comments come after Russia withdrew from a deal that had enabled grain exports via the Black Sea.
"The work we need to do at European level, we have often discussed it... is look to see whether, if it cannot pass through the Black Sea, it can instead pass through overland routes," Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau told RMC Radio, citing routes through Romania and Poland.
"We will continue to work towards a system which does not put us in the hands... of Vladimir Putin," Fesneau said.
He added that he had discussed the issue with other EU countries, including Germany.
There are ongoing power outages in the Dnipropetrovsk region with systems unable to cope after the Russian strikes this morning, regional head Valentyn Reznichenko said on Telegram.
He called on residents, enterprises, and communities to conserve energy at peak times from 6am to 11am and from 5pm to 11pm local time.
Three hydroelectric power plants were also reportedly hit by Russian missiles - the Dnieper, Dniester and Kremenchuk plants - according to the Ukrainian edition of the energy news agency, Elektrovesti.
Image source, KyivvodfondMore now on reports that 80% of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, has been left without water supply after Russian missile attacks.
A map released by Kyivvodfond, the city's water management body, shows the number of pump points affected by the strikes.
Image source, ReutersMore now on the UN grain deal.
On Saturday, Russia suspended participation in the UN grain deal for an "indefinite term", after what it said was a major Ukrainian drone attack on its Black Sea fleet in Crimea.
The grain deal had allowed Ukraine to resume its Black Sea grain exports, which had been blocked when Russia invaded the country.
It was personally negotiated by the UN secretary general and celebrated as a major diplomatic victory that helped ease a global food crisis.
On Monday, Ukraine said 12 cargo ships carrying key grain exports had left ports in the country under the agreement.
Cargo ships will resume their course along a humanitarian sea corridor between Ukraine and Turkey, but it's not known how Russian forces in the Black Sea will respond.
A United Nations spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told the BBC it was important for the operation to resume.
"We've had more than nine million metric tonnes of grain go out onto the global market which had not been able to reach the market because of this conflict.
"So this agreement is a tremendous importance in the developing world and frankly in the developed world as well because it impacts the price of grains at the wholesale level for everyone."
Ukraine's Minister of Infrastructure said one of the boats would be transporting grain to drought-stricken Ethiopia.
Wheat prices have been increasing since Russia's withdrawal from the deal, threatening global food supplies.
Frank Gardner
BBC News, Security Correspondent
Image source, .Moscow would like this latest wave of Russian missile strikes to be seen as a punitive response to Ukraine’s drone attack on Russian military targets in Crimea on Saturday.
The Kremlin sees this as a warning: you dare to hit us in Crimea? This is what you can expect in response.
But there is a clear pattern emerging in recent weeks in this war. The more setbacks Russia’s army faces on the battlefield the more its commanders punish Ukraine’s civilian population.
With winter just around the corner Moscow is hoping to so demoralise Ukrainians that they plead with their government to sue for peace - on Russia’s terms.
So far, that’s unlikely to happen. But there is still a huge amount of damage and suffering that Russia’s weapons can inflict on the civilian population.
The Kremlin will also be hoping that as this war drags on, Western support for Ukraine begins to weaken.
Russia’s aim is to break the supply chain of Western weapons that allows Ukraine to defend itself and try to push back this Russian invasion.
Image source, Moldova Ministry of InteriorA Russian missile shot down by Ukrainian air defence fell on a village in northern Moldova near its border with Ukraine, according to the Moldovan government.
Windows in several houses in the village of Naslavcea were shattered but there were no casualties, Moldova's interior ministry said.
Ukrainian authorities had informed Moldova this morning of a Russian attack on a dam of the Dniester hydroelectric power plant located 10km from Naslavcea but the dam was not damaged.
It follows Russian strikes on several Ukrainian cities this morning which caused power cuts and water supply disruptions.
Earlier this month, three Russian missiles targeting Ukraine violated Moldova's airspace but Russia has not taken responsibility for the incidents.
Image source, Moldova Ministry of InteriorWindows were shattered in the Moldovan village of Naslavcea as a result of the missile being shot down
Image source, ReutersTurkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will continue its efforts for the Black Sea grain export deal despite Russia announcing it's suspending its involvement.
Russia said it was pulling out from the deal for an "indefinite period" after it accused Ukraine of a "massive" drone attack on the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, Crimea.
Ukraine has not admitted the attack and President Volodymyr Zelensky called the Russian move "rather predictable".
President Erdogan said "we will continue decisively our efforts to serve humanity" even if Russia "behaves hesitantly".
Turkey helped broker the deal, which had allowed Ukraine to resume its Black Sea grain exports, which had been blocked when Russia invaded.
"Our effort to deliver this wheat to countries facing the threat of starvation is evident. With the joint mechanism that we established in Istanbul, we contributed to the relief of a global food crisis," Erdogan said.
Eighty percent of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, has been left without water supply after Russian missiles damaged critical infrastructure this morning, the region's mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.
"Specialists are doing everything possible to return water to the apartments of Kyiv residents," Klitschko said.
Engineers are also working to restore power to 350,000 homes in Kyiv that were left without electricity after the strikes, he added.
In Kharkiv region, Russia's strikes hit infrastructure leaving the subway and trolleybuses without power, its mayor Igor Terekhov said.
The region's water supply was also affected, but Terekhov said workers are "doing everything possible" to restore supplies to the homes of Kharkiv residents as soon as possible.
After Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine this morning, Ukrainian air defences managed to shoot down 44 out of the 50 cruise missiles, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
In a post on telegram, they wrote: "At 0700 [0400 GMT] on 31 October, Russia launched several waves of missile attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure."
Eighteen cruise missiles were shot down by air defence forces of the Operational Command Centre, 12 by the Operational Command South, nine by the Operational Command East and five by the Operational Command West, the Air Force added.
Hugo Bachega
Ukraine correspondent in Kyiv
Smoke rises over Kyiv in the aftermath of the first of Monday's strikes on the capital
The Russian targets are now all too familiar: energy infrastructure in cities across Ukraine, including in places away from the frontline. This, officials here say, is part of a strategy to destroy critical facilities ahead of winter and demoralise Ukrainians, who will probably have to endure power cuts in a country where temperatures can drop to -20C.
Russia’s airstrikes, using missiles and Iranian-made kamikaze attack drones, have destroyed a third of the Ukrainian electricity infrastructure, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Cities and towns are already experiencing rolling blackouts, and residents have been urged to reduce their consumption.
“Instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia fights civilians,” Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said this morning, echoing a view shared by many Ukrainians. “Russia does this because it still has the missiles and the will to kill Ukrainians.”
Ukraine says it needs more air defence capabilities to defend its cities from what it has described as Russian “terrorism”. Germany has already sent equipment, and the UK and the US have announced they will do so.
Russian forces have often fired dozens of missiles and drones almost simultaneously, in an attempt to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defence. Kyiv, however, has been incredibly successful in shooting most of them down. This morning, they said they had intercepted 44 cruise missiles.
The fresh wave of attacks across Ukraine come after Russia blamed Ukraine for a drone attack on its Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.
On Saturday, one Russian warship was damaged in the port city of Sevastopol in a drone attack, the Russian defence ministry said.
It also accused British specialists of having trained the Ukrainian soldiers who then carried out the strikes in Crimea - Ukraine's southern peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
Moscow provided no evidence to back its claims.
Ukraine has not commented on the issue, while the UK defence ministry said Russia was "peddling false claims on an epic scale".
Russia also announced it was suspending its involvement in the internationally-brokered deal that allows Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports.
Russia's defence ministry said drones used in Saturday's attack targeted ships involved in the grain deal.
After a wave of missile attacks across Ukraine this morning, the Ukrainian Foreign Minster Dmytro Kuleba has condemned Russian forces for hitting "critical infrastructure".
He said on Twitter: "Instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia fights civilians. Don’t justify these attacks by calling them a ‘response’. Russia does this because it still has the missiles and the will to kill Ukrainians."
Image source, EPAIn Kyiv, many residents have been hiding inside the city's metro stations
Hello and welcome to our live coverage as Russia launches missile strikes across Ukraine. Here’s a round-up of the latest developments: