Ukrainians are braced for months of power blackouts after Russian attacks on the country’s power grid have “damaged more than 50 percent of its energy facilities,” according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. One of the country’s energy chiefs has warned blackouts will likely continue “until at least the end of March” and urged Ukrainians to “stock up on warm clothes [and] blankets.”
Sergey Kovalenko, chief executive of private energy provider DTEK Yasno, said in a Facebook post late on Monday that the company is under instructions from Ukraine’s state grid operator to resume emergency blackouts in the areas it covers, including the capital, Kyiv, and the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. He said: “Although there are fewer blackouts now, I want everyone to understand – most likely, Ukrainians will have to live with blackouts until at least the end of March.
“I think we need to be prepared for different options, even the worst ones. Stock up on warm clothes, blankets, think about what will help you wait out a long shutdown.”
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It comes as the World Health Organisation warned millions of Ukrainians face a “life-threatening” winter as temperatures commonly remain below freezing in Ukraine in the winter months. Russia has been pummelling Ukraine’s power grid and other infrastructure from the air for weeks, causing widespread blackouts and depriving millions of electricity, heat and water.
Ukrainian authorities have started evacuating civilians from recently liberated sections of the southern Kherson and Mykolaiv regions amid fears that the winter will be hard to survive. Mr Kovalenko added that even if no more Russian strikes occur, scheduled outages will be needed across Ukraine to ensure power is evenly distributed across the battered energy grid.
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The battle for terrain has continued unabated despite the deteriorating weather conditions, as the war approaches its nine-month milestone. Ukrainian forces have been pressing against Russian positions as part of a weeks-long counter-offensive amid Moscow’s forces prolonged shelling and missile strikes.
On Tuesday morning, Ukrainian officials reported overnight shelling by Russian forces in several regions – eastern Donetsk, where the fighting is focused, northern Sumy, which borders Russia, and south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk. In the partially occupied Donetsk region, the city of Avdiivka was most affected by the shelling, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram.
The city was hit by several strikes overnight and a massive artillery barrage early in the morning, though no casualties were reported, according to the official. The governor of the Sumy region, Dmytro Zhyvytskiy, said a total of 86 projectiles were fired at the region overnight.
The Russian forces targeted several villages with mortar fire, he said, with no casualties reported there. In Dnipropetrovsk, the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets came under fire overnight, according to Governor Valentyn Reznichenko, with the Russian forces firing some 60 projectiles.
No casualties were reported, and the official did not offer any details on the extent of the damage.
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