• Russian soldiers have again targeted Ukraine’s energy facilities
• The situation in Ukraine, according to a presidential aide, is now critical.
• West of Kiev, in Zhytomyr, their energy facilities and water outages, and in Dnipro, two institutions suffered serious damage.

Russian soldiers again target Ukraine’s energy facilities, cutting off water and electricity to parts of Kyiv and other cities. The situation in Ukraine, according to a presidential aide, is now critical. Two people, according to the prosecution, were slain in the capital’s attack. Smoke plumes could be seen rising from a power plant close to the Dnipro river.

In Zhytomyr, West of Kiev, there were power and water outages, and in Dnipro, two institutions suffered serious damage. The deputy director of the president’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said: “Everyone should be ready, first, to save electricity, and second, rolling power blackouts are also likely if strikes continue. The entire population needs to prepare for a tough winter.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter on Tuesday that in the past eight days, 30% of Ukraine’s power stations had been destroyed, “causing massive blackouts across the country”.

The US claims that Iran’s “kamikaze” drones violate sanctions. 13 people are killed when a Russian warplane crashes into an apartment building. One employee was killed and six others suffered injuries after Russian shelling severely damaged two of the thermal power plants owned by the Ukrainian energy company DTEK.

In recent weeks, Russia has intensified its attacks on cities without electricity infrastructure. Authorities have moved quickly to fix the damage, but because the attacks occurred before winter, questions have been raised about how the system would react.

“We were expecting that Russia will intensify attacks on energy infrastructure and civilian infrastructure and increase the urban warfare towards autumn and here we are exactly with that scenario taking place,” Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko told the BBC.

In its latest assessment, UK defence intelligence said that it was highly likely that Russia had becoming increasingly willing to strike civilian infrastructure in addition to military targets since its setbacks on the battlefield in recent weeks.

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Russia’s missile and drone attacks have brought renewed calls from the Ukrainian government for the delivery of air defence missiles.

Earlier, the US said it agreed with its French and UK allies that the supply of drones by Iran violated a UN Security Council resolution linked to a nuclear agreement, barring the transfer of certain military technology.

Ukraine has identified the drones used in deadly attacks on Kyiv and Sumy as Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Vedant Patel of the US state department said the US would not hesitate to use sanctions.

Both Russia and Iran have denied that Iranian drones were deployed. The EU has said it is gathering evidence and is ready to act.

Meanwhile, in one of the biggest prisoner swaps since Russia’s war began in February, 218 detainees were exchanged – including 108 Ukrainian women.

And across the Sea of Azov from Ukraine, a Russian fighter jet crashed into the courtyard of a block of flats in the southern Russian town of Yeysk. At least 13 people were killed, including three children, while dozens of residents were rescued from the nine-storey block.

The pilots on board the Su-34 plane ejected.