KYIV, Ukraine – With Ukraine’s energy network suffering “huge” damage from Russian missile attacks, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a national effort to prepare thousands of temporary centers to provide basic services in the event of a prolonged outage.
“If large-scale Russian attacks take place again, and if it is understood that the power supply cannot be restored within a few hours, the work of the ‘Invincible Point’ will be activated. ,” he told the nation in an interview. his nightly address on Tuesday.
“All the basic services will be there, including electricity, mobile communications, internet access, heat, water and first aid supplies,” he said.
The head of Ukraine’s national grid said almost no thermal and hydroelectric plants were left intact after a wave of Russian air strikes on energy infrastructure in recent months.
Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, head of Ukrenergo, told a news conference on Tuesday: “The scale of the devastation is enormous.
Oleksii Danilov, head of Ukraine’s national security and defense council, said a series of attacks on November 15, including from more than 100 missiles and drones, were the most common attacks. largest tissue. attack on the country’s energy infrastructure of the war to date.
While Moscow is running out of precision cruise missiles, According to Ukraine and its alliesUkrainian intelligence reports suggest that the Kremlin still has enough arsenal to carry out attacks on a similar scale “three or four more times”. Ukrainian and US officials also say that Moscow is looking to Iran and North Korea to replenish its stockpiles.
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s adviser, said the air strikes on energy infrastructure were part of Russia’s “malicious strategy”, which has been denied. push back into defensive positions in the south and northeast after Ukrainian forces recaptured about 55% of the territory occupied by Moscow in the early months of the war. Russia continued its assault on an eastern city, Bakhmut.
“Their goal is clear: to cause a large-scale humanitarian disaster, to provoke another refugee crisis in Europe,” he said. Mr. Yermak said in a statement. “Either force Ukraine to make peace or force the West to force Ukraine to make peace.”
Zelensky said that Russia clearly has the goal of “turning the cold of winter into a weapon of mass destruction”.
Moscow’s attempt to plunge the country into darkness and freezing conditions forced the national utility to implement a controlled but widespread power cut that left nearly everyone in the country without electricity. electricity from 4 to 12 hours per day.
Without knowing when the next wave of Russian missiles will arrive — and how effective Ukraine’s air defenses will be at mitigating their impact — Ukrainian officials must account for the possibility of further damage. may prevent them from providing basic services.
Mr. Zelensky on Tuesday encouraged people in towns and cities across the country to visit the government website, nezlamnist.gov.uato find one of the 4,000 planned centers for basic services closest to their home.
People working at the centers will be able to direct residents to the nearest gas station, bank, pharmacy and grocery store in the event of a power outage, he said.
“We all have to be prepared for every scenario,” he said. “I am sure: by helping each other, we will all be able to get through this winter together.”
In addition to the “Invincible Point” – whose name promotes unity and courage among Ukrainians – city workers in Kyiv are setting up 1,000 heating shelters that can double as bunkers for hundreds of people, stocking up on essentials needed to last for more than a week. Similar efforts are underway in towns and cities across the country.
In areas of the country that were recently recaptured from retreating Russian forces, including Kherson, infrastructure was so severely damaged that the Ukrainian government had to assist people to evacuate to other parts of the country. But Ukrainian officials have insisted that there is no need for a broader evacuation.
“I believe that the current call for Ukrainians to go abroad in large numbers is inappropriate,” Mr. Kudrytskyi said.
