With Vladimir Putin’s fury and forces ranged against it, Ukraine needs more than one kind of hardware. Reports on Tuesday said the US is close to providing at least one Patriot missile defence battery to Ukraine, having previously refused Kyiv’s entreaties; Russia has warned against their use. A battery costs around $1bn and each missile around $3m; the systems are in high demand. Training an army to use them can take months.
In contrast, an LED lightbulb can be bought off the shelf for under $2 – and then installed – by any consumer. But Volodymyr Zelenskiy believes these are crucial to the war effort too: he wants 50m of them (the EU has so far pledged 30m). On the same day that news of the Patriot plans broke, the Ukrainian president told an emergency conference in Paris that generators are as essential as armour to help his country survive.
Russia’s setbacks on the battlefield have intensified its terror campaign against civilians. Despite the valiant efforts of both the Ukrainian military and those tasked with maintaining its critical infrastructure, as much as half of the power network has been knocked out at times. Last Saturday, all non-critical infrastructure in Odesa was without power. Moscow has calculated how to do maximum damage, targeting not only power stations but substations too.
Missiles are needed to repel the attacks. But while Ukraine has got better at defence, Russia is also improving its targeting; repairs and replacements are essential. Washington has just shipped the first tranche of equipment to support the country’s power infrastructure. Generators and transformers take time to produce, so reducing power demand is also crucial; switching from older incandescent bulbs to LEDs could cut the shortfall by as much as 40%, Kyiv believes. It is trying to ensure that everyone can have at least a few hours a day of power – essential when temperatures are dipping below zero. Its aim is threefold: to keep infrastructure in working condition for the future; to preserve the health, wellbeing and morale of its citizens; and also to keep them within its borders.
In October, Kyiv urged the millions of Ukrainians who have fled abroad to remain there until spring, warning – correctly – that conditions would only get worse. But it is painfully aware that another mass exodus might imperil political support in European countries which have, so far, maintained more unity than many expected. That second wave has not yet materialised, despite the grim conditions. But there is a lot more of winter to come.
The UK and EU countries have spent around half a trillion euros to ease the pain of the energy crisis for their own citizens. Even so, many are enduring a brutal winter, struggling to feed their families and freezing in homes they cannot afford to heat. Their hardship, while much less than the suffering of Ukrainians, is real and must not be dismissed. As winter bites, the fear is that governments under pressure may increasingly highlight the costs of a sustained war.
Pulling away from backing Ukraine is not the only danger. Accusing underpaid workers of playing into Mr Putin’s hands by striking – as Nadhim Zahawi, the Conservative party chairman, did this week – was disgraceful as well as absurd. European politicians must not do the Russian president’s work for him by turning support for Kyiv into a political football. The focus must remain on Ukrainians’ needs.
