KYIV, Ukraine — Utility crews worked through the dark night in snow and cold rain to stabilize Ukraine’s devastated power grid on Thursday following another wave of destructive Russian missile strikes, restoring services Essentials such as running water and heat in many parts of the country even millions are still without electricity.
Ukrainians have expressed their opposition to Moscow’s relentless campaign to weaponize winter in order to weaken their resolve and force Kiev to surrender even as Russia inflicts more suffering on a nation weary of war.
Surgeons are forced to work under a flashlightThousands of miners had to be pulled from deep underground by manual winches, and people across the country had to carry buckets and water bottles up the stairs in high-rise apartment buildings where elevators had stopped working.
State Border Service of Ukraine suspend operations at checkpoints on the border with Hungary and Romania on Thursday because of a power outage, and Ukraine’s national railway operator reported delays and disruptions on a network already serving as a resilient bloodline for the nation through nine months of war.
Families charge phones, heat and gather information at centers set up in towns and cities during prolonged power outages. Police in the capital Kyiv and in other cities stepped up patrols as shop and restaurant owners turned on generators or lit candles and continued to work.
“The situation is difficult across the country,” said Herman Galushchenko, Ukraine’s Energy Minister. But by 4 a.m., he said, engineers had succeeded in “unifying the energy system,” allowing power to power critical infrastructure.
In Moldova, Ukraine’s western neighbor, whose Soviet-era power system is still connected to Ukraine, the grid has largely returned online after the country experienced a problem. “massive blackout,” infrastructure minister say on Twitter. Minister Andrei Spinu wrote: “We move forward, stronger and victorious.
The Russia’s missile series on Wednesday At least 10 people were killed and dozens injured in what appeared to be one of the most disruptive attacks in weeks, Ukrainian officials said. Since October 10, Russia has fired about 600 missiles at power plants, hydroelectric facilities, pumping stations and water treatment facilities, high-voltage cables around nuclear power plants and substations. important to bring electricity to tens of millions of homes and businesses, according to the report. Ukrainian officials.
The campaign is charging increasing fees. Wednesday’s strikes shut down all of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants for the first time, depriving the country of one of the country’s most important sources of energy.
“We expect that the nuclear plants will start operating in the evening, so the deficit will decrease,” Mr. Galushchenko said.
General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the top commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said Ukrainian air defenses shot down 51 of 67 Russian cruise missiles fired on Wednesday and five of 10 drones.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, Wednesday night speech at an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, condemned what he called Russia’s terrorist campaign.
“When the outside temperature drops below zero degrees Celsius and tens of millions of people have no electricity, no heat and no water as a result of Russian missiles hitting energy facilities,” he said, “it’s obvious,” he said. is a crime against humanity”.
In Kyiv, about one in four homes remained without electricity as of Thursday afternoon, and more than half of the city’s residents were without running water, according to city officials. City officials say service is slowly being restored and they are confident that the pumps that supply water to about three million residents will be restored by the end of the day.
Transit has been suspended in the southern port city of Odesa on the Black Sea so that limited energy supplies can be diverted for water to flow again. In the Lviv region in western Ukraine, where millions have been displaced by fighting, power and water outages, services have largely been restored.
The national energy company, Ukrenergo, said that given the “significant degree of damage” and difficult working conditions, repairs in some areas could take longer than others.
“There is no reason to panic,” the utility said in a statement. Critical infrastructure will be reconnected, it said.
Electricity is slowly returning to the important southern city of Mykolaiv. By 9 p.m. local time, it had been restored in about half of the city. The long boulevards were deserted and eerie, the street lights were off, and in many buildings a lone light burned somewhere inside, most likely a flashlight. But many people here don’t seem to be so bent.
“They want us to suffer,” said Anhelina Peresunko, a hotel manager, sitting in a lobby lit by flickering candles Wednesday night when the power went out. “But I’m not worried. Nothing. We charge all our power banks and phones. We always prepare ourselves.”
Jeffrey Gettman contribution from Mykolaiv.
