Kyiv scrambles to restore power after bombardment
Recent Russian strikes included sophisticated hypersonic missiles
Ukraine’s capital had most of its power supply restored Friday, officials said, as the country again responded swiftly and defiantly to the latest Russian missile and drone barrage targeting critical infrastructure.
In what has become a familiar Russian tactic since early October, the Kremlin’s forces struck Ukraine from afar Thursday while the ground battles in the country’s east largely remained mired in a grinding stalemate.
The apparent aim of attacking power stations and other infrastructure is to weaken Ukraine’s resolve and compel the Ukrainian government to negotiate peace on Moscow’s terms.
Ukrainian authorities scrambled to counter the consequences of the latest bombardment, part of a recurring cycle of urban smash-and-repair that has brought little change in the course of the war, which recently entered its second year.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said in an assessment that “these missile strikes will not undermine Ukraine’s will or improve Russia’s positions on the front lines.”
Power and water were restored in Kyiv, said Serhii Popko, the head of the city’s military administration. Popko said that about 30 per cent of consumers in the capital remained without heating and that repair work was ongoing.
Around 60 per cent of households in the city of Kharkiv that were knocked off grid by Russia’s missile strikes on Thursday were also back online, authorities said.
In another sign of normality quickly returning, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Friday.
Marin accompanied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior military officers at the funeral of one of Ukraine’s bestknown fighters and commanders who was killed in fighting near the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut.
The service for Dmytro Kotsiubailo, killed a few days earlier at the age of 27, was held at the cathedral of Kyiv’s St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery. Many of the thousands of mourners clutched flowers, and the crowd knelt in silence as Kotsiubailo’s coffin was carried out of the church toward Maidan Square.
Thursday’s Russian onslaught, much of which took place before dawn, was the largest such attack in three weeks, deploying more than 80 Russian missiles and exploding drones.
The barrage, which also damaged residential buildings, killed six people and left hundreds of thousands without heat or running water. The salvo was noteworthy for the range of munitions the Kremlin’s forces used, including hypersonic Kinzhal cruise missiles that are among the most sophisticated weapons in Russian’s arsenal.