RT News - October 10th 2022 LATE

Vladimir Putin compares Ukraine's actions primarily in Crimea and other border regions to 'terrorism' against Russia and warns they will evoke a harsh response. The remarks come as Russia conducts a huge missile strike-operation on Ukrainian targets, including military command centres and energy systems.

Minsk reports that both the presidents of Belarus and Russia have agreed to deploy a joint regional military contingent.

EU (QueenStreet comment and Britain* already has, since this morning, 10/10/22) are preparing to sanction Iran further, whilst ignoring the humanitarian needs of thier citizens as protests continue across Europe.

The economic situation in western Europe may take decades to recover.

The Ukraine armed forces Commander in Chief is found to be wearing a bracelet with a swastika on it in a posed photo op.

Not the first time: In 2015 a NATO mine device had to be removed and de-fused by the Swedish armed forces from the Nord Stream (1) pipeline.

Russia is being obstructed from taking part into the sabotage investigations on Nord Stream 2.

* https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-sanctions-iran-human-rights and see below, report 2

Report 1 Via RT Website : Ukraine details damage after nationwide attacks

At least 11 key infrastructure sites have been hit, causing blackouts, the prime minister has said

The Ukrainian government has reported serious damage to the country’s infrastructure following Russian missile attacks on Monday morning. People should expect outages of basic services, Prime Minister Denis Shmigal warned.

“As of 11:00 a.m. 11 key infrastructure objects in eight regions of Ukraine and in Kiev have been damaged,” the head of the cabinet said on social media. “We need to be prepared for temporary interruptions of electricity, water, and telecommunications.”

He repeated the assessment made by President Vladimir Zelensky, that the goal of the strikes was to scare the population, and urged the public to “hold the line.”

On Monday, reports came in from many parts of Ukraine about multiple missile hits. The office of Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, claimed that at least 75 missiles were fired at his country, and the air defenses intercepted 41. According to Ukrainian officials, Russia also used kamikaze drones against some targets.

Senior Ukrainian officials and media said the strikes targeted power plants and other elements of the energy infrastructure. Power stations and other key sites in Kiev, Lviv, Kharkov, and Zhitomir Regions were targeted, according to reports.

Ukrenergo, the national power grid operator, claimed its specialists have been “engaging backup supply schemes” and repairing damage after the attacks.

The administration of Kiev Region urged people to charge their devices and stockpile water due to potential disruptions of utilities. Issues with water supply were reported in the cities of Lviv and Kharkov, and in Chernigov and Krivoy Rog Regions.

The capital itself, which is a separate administrative entity, shut down its metro system, as people rushed to the stations seeking shelter.

The attacks were apparently not limited to Ukraine’s energy system. The area of Kiev in which the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is located reportedly came under fire.

One projectile reportedly landed next to what residents of the capital call ‘the Klitschko bridge’, after Mayor Vitaly Klitschko. His office reported that it spent $7.5 million on the pedestrian walkway, and he personally led the opening ceremony in 2019. Footage from CCTV cameras appears to show the bridge mostly intact after being rocked by the explosion.

The escalation on Monday comes two days after what Moscow called a Ukrainian terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge, which connects Crimea with the Russian mainland. A powerful explosion on the bridge’s road traffic section killed several civilians and partially collapsed the structure, but fell well short of destroying it.

Senior Ukrainian officials previously claimed that the bridge was a legitimate military target, citing its strategic role for supplying Russian military forces.

Many Ukrainian officials cheered the incident, which apparently involved explosives planted on a cargo truck. Hours after the incident, the national postal service even released a special stamp celebrating the event. People in Kiev were invited to take selfies in front of a giant replica of the stamp.

On Monday, President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia launched missile attacks on infrastructure sites across Ukraine in retaliation for what he described as a pattern of “terrorist attacks” against Russian infrastructure.

https://www.rt.com/russia/564397-ukraine-infrastructure-damage-blackouts/

Report 2 via RT website : UK sanctions Iranian ‘morality police’

London cited the "repression of women and girls" in pronouncing its restrictions on Iran’s guidance patrols

The UK has sanctioned Iran’s Gasht-e-Ershad, the so-called ‘morality police’ responsible for enforcing Islamic dress code, accusing the force of “repression of women and girls.” London has also explained the restrictions by citing what it called Tehran’s “shocking violence” inflicted on people who turned out to protest following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Condemning the morality police for allegedly using threats of detention and violence to control the public behavior and dress of Iranian women, London promised on Monday to “hold [Iranian authorities] to account.”

The sanctions target the entire force, as well as its chief, Mohammed Rostami Cheshmeh Gachi, and its Tehran Division head, Haj Ahmed Mirzaei, echoing a similar move by the US several weeks ago. The British Foreign Ministry had previously summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires to complain about the police crackdown on the protests.

Amini was detained by the policing unit, the official name of which translates to ‘guidance patrols’, last month for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly. Along with other detainees, she was brought to a police station to sit through a lecture on “Islamic values” as is standard operating procedure.

Video footage from the station showed Amini collapsing while in custody, before regaining consciousness and collapsing again. She died in a hospital two days later.

While her family has claimed she was beaten, no such altercation appears on the CCTV footage from the police station. Amini died not from blunt force trauma but from a lack of oxygen to the brain due to an underlying condition, according to the coroner’s report.

Her death has nevertheless triggered widespread protests, during which scenes of women removing their hijabs and cutting their hair have dominated headlines. The demonstrations have devolved into violence in numerous cases, leaving 150 people dead, according to the group Iran Human Rights

From initially calling for a repeal of compulsory head coverings, which have been required by law since 1983, the protesters’ demands have escalated to insisting on the removal of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

Tehran has blamed the US and Israel for the unrest, with its Intelligence Ministry accusing them of “direct involvement” in organizing the protests. One Iranian expat and journalist working for the US government-funded Voice of America Persia has claimed to be “leading” the protest movement, while the National Endowment for Democracy, a CIA cutout, has been heavily financing the Iranian opposition for years.