Dead after attacks on Kherson
Ukrainians struggle with blackouts and freezing cold
11/25/2022 7:24 am
The massive blackouts are still troubling Ukraine. There are apparently problems with the electricity and water supply in around 15 regions, and Kyiv is also further affected. Russia denies responsibility for the destruction there – and shells the liberated Cherson almost every hour.
Even after the liberation by Ukrainian troops, the situation for the residents of Cherson is catastrophic. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Cherson was shelled almost every hour. On Thursday, Russian troops fired artillery and multiple rocket launchers at the city in southern Ukraine, killing seven people. About 20 people were injured, said regional governor Yaroslav Yanuschevych. A high-rise caught fire as a result of the shelling. A bullet hit a children’s playground.
“Today is another terrible page in the history of our hero city,” the governor wrote on Telegram. Under pressure from Ukrainian attacks, Russian troops evacuated Cherson and their bridgehead on the north-west bank of the Dnipro in mid-November. The Russians, however, hold positions on the other bank of the river and use their artillery from there. Ukrainian authorities have offered civilians temporary leave of Kherson.
In the face of the freezing cold and darkness in Ukrainian cities as a result of the massive blackouts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invoked his people’s spirit of resistance. “We survived a full-scale war for nine months, and Russia didn’t find a way to break us. And it won’t find one,” Zelenskyy said in his evening video address. “We must carry on as we are right now, in unity and mutual aid.”
Power supply difficult almost everywhere
After the Russian attacks, large parts of the country are suffering from the massive Russian attacks. There are problems with the electricity and water supply in around 15 regions, said Selenskyj. “The power supply remains difficult in almost all regions,” he explained.
The situation is particularly difficult in Kyiv. 70 percent of the capital are still without electricity, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko. According to the city administration, the water supply was restored during the day. According to the local regional governor, there were also electricity problems and “emergency power shutdowns” in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city in the east of the country. After “very difficult” work, the power supply was restored on Thursday, said Mayor Igor Terekhov.
Russia, however, denied any responsibility for the destruction in the capital. “Not a single blow” was struck inside Kiev, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Any destruction is the result of missiles fired from “foreign and Ukrainian air defense systems” from populated areas of the Ukrainian capital. However, the ministry spoke of “massive blows” to the “military leadership of Ukraine” and “related energy facilities”.
Power grid recovers after blackout
Although many Ukrainian households were still without electricity, water or heating, the authorities reported progress in restoring the supply. The power grid is recovering from the blackout on Wednesday. According to the network operator Ukrenerhomit, half of the demand can be covered again. Most thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants produced electricity again. The nuclear power plants that had been shut down in an emergency returned to the grid. Selenskyj also explained that more households could be supplied with electricity every hour. The restoration of power and water supplies lasted throughout Thursday and Friday night.
Despite Western skepticism, Zelenskyy is sticking to the liberation of the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, as a war goal. “If someone shows us a way to end the occupation of Crimea through non-military means, then I will be very much in favor of it,” he told the Financial Times. But if a proposal meant that Crimea would be occupied and remain part of Russia, “no one should waste their time on that.”
Western supporters of Ukraine assume that Ukraine will eventually be able to recapture the areas occupied by Russia since February 24 and the Donbass. But they are more cautious about Crimea: The peninsula is strategically and symbolically so important to Moscow that an escalation of the war is to be feared.