US Business

Ukraine worked Saturday to restore electricity and water supplies after Russia’s latest wave of attacks pitched multiple cities into darkness and forced people to endure sub-zero temperatures without heating or running water.

The volley of missiles unleashed Friday came as President Vladimir Putin held extensive meetings with the military top brass overseeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where Moscow has stepped up bombardments. 

In the capital Kyiv, the metro had stopped running so that people wrapped in winter coats could take shelter at underground stations after air raid sirens rang out on Friday morning.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said the metro service was relaunched early Saturday and water supply had been restored.

However, a third of Kyiv residents were still without power, Klitschko added. 

Power was also restored throughout the eastern city of Kharkiv on Saturday, regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said, after the strikes left Ukraine’s second city without electricity.

Ukraine’s national energy provider imposed emergency blackouts, saying on Saturday that the energy system “continues to recover”. 

Ukrenergo had warned the extent of the damage in the north, south and centre of the country meant it could take longer to restore supplies than after previous attacks.

During a visit to the army staff Friday, Putin sought out proposals from his military commanders on how Russia should proceed with the Ukraine offensive, according to the Kremlin.

The Kremlin released footage of Putin presiding over a round-table meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov among other top brass.

– ‘Inhumane attacks’ –

After a series of humiliating battlefield defeats, Russia since October has pursued an aerial onslaught against what Moscow says are military-linked facilities.

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

Russia fired 74 missiles — mainly cruise missiles — on Friday, 60 of which were shot down by anti-aircraft defences, according to the Ukrainian army.

Kyiv withstood one of the biggest missile attacks since the start of the invasion. Regional officials said their air defence forces had shot down 37 out of 40 missiles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes left hit power and water supplies in Kyiv and 14 regions.

In the central city of Kryvyi Rig, where Zelensky was born, the air strikes hit a residential building.

A 64-year-old woman and a young couple with a little son died, governor Valentyn Reznichenko said Saturday, adding that 13 others had been wounded.

In the south, fresh Russian shelling in Kherson, recently recaptured by Ukraine, killed a 36-year-old man and injured a 70-year-old woman, governor Yaroslav Yanushevich said.

Kherson has been subjected to persistent Russian shelling since Moscow’s forces retreated in November, and power was cut in the city earlier this week.

– Protracted war –

Moscow has said the strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure are a response to an explosion on the Kerch bridge connecting the Russian mainland to the Crimean peninsula, annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Ukrainian defence officials said this week that their forces had downed over a dozen Iranian-made attack drones launched at Kyiv, a sign that Western-supplied systems are having an impact.

Ukrainian military leaders have warned Moscow is preparing for a major winter offensive, including a fresh attempt to take Kyiv.

Aiming to push Moscow to the negotiating table, the EU on Friday imposed further sanctions, adding restrictions on the export of drone engines to Russia or countries like Iran looking to supply Moscow with weapons. 

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told AFP that Russia was readying for a protracted war. 

“We see that they are mobilising more forces, that they are willing to suffer also a lot of casualties, that they are trying to get access to more weapons and ammunition,” he said.

Elon Musk said late Friday he would reinstate the Twitter accounts of several journalists who were suspended after he accused them of endangering his family.

Musk had drawn anger and warnings from the EU and UN after suspending the accounts of more than half a dozen prominent journalists from the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post.

“The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now,” the Twitter owner tweeted.

Musk carried out a Twitter poll asking whether he should restore the suspended accounts now or in a week’s time. Nearly 59 percent of the 3.69 million who took part said he should restore the accounts now.

Some of the suspended accounts appeared to have been reactivated, with former Vox journalist Aaron Rupar tweeting again.

“I was pretty bummed about getting suspended initially but quickly realized it’d be fine because I’m blessed to have an amazing online community,” Rupar tweeted, thanking people for their support.

The latest controversy began when Musk on Wednesday suspended @elonjet, an account that tracked flights of his private plane.

Musk said the move was necessary after a car in Los Angeles carrying one of his children was followed by “a crazy stalker” and seemed to blame the tracking of his jet for the incident.

Some of the journalists had reported on the affair, including tweets linking to the suspended @elonjet account, which Musk said amounted to offering “assassination coordinates” against him and his family.

In a chat hosted live on Twitter, Musk had provided no evidence for his claim but told some of the suspended reporters that on Twitter “everyone’s going to be treated the same… they’re not special because you’re a journalist.”

Pressed further on his allegations, Musk ended the conversation. Twitter Spaces, the feature where the chat took place, was then suspended.

Musk’s move to suspend the journalists’ accounts had drawn sharp criticism from media organizations, the European Union and UN.

“News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” EU commissioner Vera Jourova posted on Twitter, warning the influential platform could face hefty fines through European laws.

“Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon,” she added.

The spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres called it a “dangerous precedent at a time when journalists all over the world are facing censorship, physical threats and even worse.”

– Controversies –

Twitter has lurched from one controversy to the next since Musk took control after paying $44 billion, mainly by selling shares in Tesla, his successful electric car company. 

The billionaire’s talk of unfettered speech has scared off major advertisers and caught the attention of regulators.

Musk has reinstated the account of former US president Donald Trump and lashed out against the outgoing key advisor for the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Anthony Fauci, a frequent target of vitriol in right-wing media.

CNN has reported that Twitter’s former head of trust and safety fled his home after baseless attacks on Twitter content moderation, endorsed by Musk.

Meanwhile, a purge initiated by Musk at Twitter left more than half of its 7,500 employees out of work, and now many of them are taking the SpaceX and Tesla tycoon to court.

Musk at one point signaled he was going to war with Apple over the App Store, only to later tweet that it was a “misunderstanding.”

Market tracker Insider Intelligence forecast that Twitter would experience an exodus of users.

“There won’t be one catastrophic event that ends Twitter,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg.

“Instead, users will start to leave the platform next year as they grow frustrated with technical issues and the proliferation of hateful or other unsavory content.”

Ukraine was working Saturday to restore electricity to hospitals, heating systems and other critical infrastructure in major cities after Russia’s latest wave of attacks on the power grid prompted accusations of “war crimes”.

The volley of missiles unleashed Friday pitched multiple cities into darkness, cutting water and heat and forcing people to endure below-freezing temperatures. 

In the capital, where the mayor said only a third of residents had heat or water, people wrapped in winter coats crammed into underground metro stations after air raid sirens rang out in the morning.

“I woke up, I saw a rocket in the sky,” Kyiv resident 25-year-old Lada Korovai said. “I saw it and understood that I have to go to the tube.”

Ukraine’s national energy provider imposed emergency blackouts, saying its system had lost more than half its capacity after strikes targeted “backbone networks and generation facilities”. 

Ukrenergo warned the extent of the damage in the north, south and centre of the country meant it could take longer to restore supplies than after previous attacks.

“Priority will be given to critical infrastructure: hospitals, water supply facilities, heat supply facilities, sewage treatment plants,” Ukrenergo said in a statement Friday.

By evening, second city Kharkiv had restored power to just over half its residents, while hoping to have a fully operational grid by midnight. 

After a series of embarrassing battlefield defeats, Russia since October has pursued an aerial onslaught against what Moscow says are military-linked facilities.

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

“These cruel, inhumane attacks aim to increase human suffering and deprive Ukrainian people,” Josep Borrell said.

– ‘Biggest’ missile attack –

Russia fired 74 missiles — mainly cruise missiles — on Friday, 60 of which were shot down by anti-aircraft defences, according to the Ukrainian army. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes left the capital Kyiv and 14 regions affected by power and water cuts.

“All their targets today are civilian, and these are mainly energy and heat supply facilities,” he said in his nightly address.

“Probably, as a result of this war, the meaning of the word ‘terror’ for most people in the world will be associated primarily with such crazy actions of Russia.”

In the central city of Kryvyi Rig, where Zelensky was born, the airstrikes hit a residential building.

“A 64-year-old woman and a young couple died. Their little son still remains under the rubble of the house,” regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said, adding that 13 others had been wounded.

Oleksandr Starukh, head of the frontline Zaporizhzhia region, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, said his territory had been targeted by more than a dozen Russian missiles.

Kyiv, meanwhile, withstood one of the biggest missile attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Regional officials said their air defence forces had shot down 37 out of 40 missiles.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said only 40 percent of residents had electricity and that the metro had stopped running so people could take shelter underground.

– ‘Survive winter’ –

With about half of Ukraine’s energy grid damaged, the national operator warned Friday of emergency blackouts.

In Ukrainian-held Bakhmut — an eastern city at the epicentre of the war — some residents received wood stoves distributed by volunteers, AFP journalists said.

Oleksandra, 85, braved the cold to collect medication at a pharmacy in the Donetsk region city.

“I’ll survive winter. I’ll just walk more to get warm,” the old woman told AFP. 

In the south, fresh Russian shelling in Kherson, recently recaptured by Ukraine, killed one person and wounded three more.

Kherson has been subjected to persistent Russian shelling since Moscow’s forces retreated in November, and power was cut in the city earlier this week.

On Thursday, Russian attacks killed 14 people, deputy head of the president’s office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said. 

In the Russian-controlled region of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine, Moscow-installed officials said shelling from Kyiv’s forces had killed eight and wounded 23.

“The enemy is conducting barbaric shelling of cities and districts of the republic,” Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-installed leader of Lugansk, said on social media.

– Protracted war –

Moscow has said the strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure are a response to an explosion on the Kerch bridge connecting the Russian mainland to the Crimean peninsula.

The Kremlin has said it holds Kyiv ultimately responsible for the humanitarian impact for refusing Russian negotiation terms.

Ukrainian defence officials said this week that their forces had shot down more than a dozen Iranian-made attack drones launched at Kyiv, a sign that Western-supplied systems are having an impact.

Ukrainian military leaders have warned Moscow is preparing for a major winter offensive, including a fresh attempt to take Kyiv.

Aiming to push Moscow to the negotiating table, the EU on Friday imposed further sanctions, adding restrictions on the export of drone engines to Russia or countries like Iran looking to supply Moscow with weapons. 

But NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told AFP that Russia was readying for a protracted war. 

“We see that they are mobilising more forces, that they are willing to suffer also a lot of casualties, that they are trying to get access to more weapons and ammunition,” he said.

Stock markets dropped further Friday on prospects of more aggressive rises in interest rates to fight inflation, renewing concerns over the global economy entering recession next year.

After a healthy rally in recent weeks fueled by signs that price rises were slowing, the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England this week dampened the holiday cheer by hiking borrowing costs again by sizable amounts and warning of more pain.

While inflation in many leading economies has started coming down — helped by a drop in energy costs — it still remains at or near multi-decade highs.

Observers have warned that economies could be heading for a period of stagflation where prices keep rising but growth stalls.

“In a nutshell, it is all about fears over a sharper economic slowdown in 2023 than previously expected,” noted Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index trading group.

“While macro data have been weak of late, there was still hope that the downturn might be short-lived and that a recession might be avoided in some regions altogether, amid signs of inflation peaking in some regions like the US.”

The latest rate hikes came as data showed US and UK retail sales dropping in November as consumers — key drivers of growth — feel the pinch from high prices and rate hikes.

– Recession on horizon? –

Eurozone and London shares all closed firmly in the red.  

Wall Street stocks meanwhile extended losses too, with major indices ending about one percent lower.

OANDA analyst Craig Erlam said the prospect of a “Santa rally” was fading.

“Going into December, there was growing optimism that policymakers could be a source of optimism going into the new year but instead, they’ve taken on the role of grinch, bringing a swift end to the celebrations,” he added.

Earlier, Asia had also seen losses, with Tokyo closing down 1.9 percent.

On the upside, Hong Kong rose on progress in talks over allowing US officials to audit Chinese firms listed in New York, easing concerns about a possible delisting of some big names such as Alibaba and Tencent.

The news provided a little more help to Hong Kong traders, whose sentiment has been lifted also by China’s shift away from the economically damaging zero-Covid policy as well as moves to open the city further to overseas visitors.

And a report in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post said the border with mainland China would be fully reopened next month, providing another much-needed boost to the beleaguered economy.

However, the mood was soured a little by a US decision to put 36 Chinese companies including top producers of advanced computer chips on a trade blacklist, severely restricting their access to any US technology.

– Key figures around 2230 GMT –

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.9 percent at 32,920.46 (close)

New York – S&P 500: DOWN 1.1 percent at 3,852.36 (close)

New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 1.0 percent at 10,705.41 (close)

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.3 percent at 7,332.12 (closing)

Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.7 percent at 13,893.07 (closing)

Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 1.1 percent at 6,452.63 (closing)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,804.02 (close)

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.9 percent at 27,527.12 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.4 percent at 19,450.67 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: FLAT at 3,167.86 (close)

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.4 percent at $74.29 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 2.7 percent at $79.04 per barrel

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0589 from $1.0628 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2140 from $1.2178

Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.22 pence from 87.27 pence

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 136.68 yen from 137.78 yen

The US Energy Department announced Friday a plan to add oil back to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) after a historically large release undertaken by the Biden administration.

The policy marks a significant shift after President Biden authorized the biggest-ever release earlier this year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent oil prices to $120 a barrel.

The plan represents “an opportunity to secure a good deal for American taxpayers by repurchasing oil at a lower price than the $96 per barrel average price it was sold for, as well as to strengthen energy security,” the Department of Energy (DOE) said in a news release. 

The agency said it will buy up to three million barrels of oil under a pilot program designed to attract sellers who can lock in prices.

The SPR currently holds 382 million barrels of crude, down some 216 million barrels from its level before September 2021.

A Biden official said in October that the administration planned to purchase oil to refill the reserve as soon as prices hit around $67-72 a barrel.

Crude prices have fallen significantly from their peak levels earlier in the year. On Friday, US benchmark West Texas Intermedia dropped 2.4 percent to $74.29 a barrel.

The DOE announcement noted that gasoline prices have dropped by more than $1.80 a gallon from their June 2022 apex and now stand at the cheapest level since September 2021.