New wave of strikes slam Ukraine power grid
Kyiv: Fresh Russian strikes hit cities across Ukraine, crippling the country’s energy infrastructure and plunging millions into darkness as winter sets in and temperatures drop.
Repeated barrages have disrupted electricity and water supplies across Ukraine, but the Kremlin blamed civilians’ suffering on Kyiv’s refusal to negotiate, rather than on Russian attacks.
AFP journalists in several Ukrainian cities said the latest assault coincided with the season’s first snow, after officials in Kyiv warned of “difficult” days ahead.
“Currently, more than 10 million Ukrainians are without electricity,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday, adding that the regions of Odessa, Vinnytsia, Sumy and Kyiv were most affected.
The strikes on Ukraine’s power grid follow a series of battlefield setbacks for Russia, including last week’s retreat from Kherson.
Since Russian forces ended their occupation of the strategic southern city, chilling accounts have emerged, with Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubynets describing the conditions there as “horrific”.
Lubynets said authorities had uncovered Russian “torture chambers” where dozens of people had been abused and killed.
On Thursday, Kherson residents rushed to stockpile food, blankets, diapers and winter clothing, with shouting matches and shoving erupting as volunteers tossed supplies into the crowds that had waited hours in freezing rain.
Capturing the fatigue of Ukrainians weathering power and heating outages nine months into the war, British street artist Banksy posted a video to Instagram that showed a woman comforting her child outside a bombed-out kindergarten.
“We already cried so much, we don’t have any tears left,” she says.
The elusive graffiti artist has decorated walls and ruins outside the Ukrainian capital with stencils and murals that some hailed as a symbol of their country’s invincibility.
As winter descends, Moscow and Kyiv managed to extend an agreement allowing Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea, after the deal’s looming expiration had sparked fears for the global food supply.