The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Shelling is piling on the misery
Shelling by Russian forces struck several areas in eastern and southern Ukraine early yesterday as utility crews continued efforts to restore power, water and heating following widespread strikes in recent weeks, officials said.
With persistent snow blanketing the capital, Kyiv, analysts predict that wintry weather – bringing with it frozen terrain and gruelling fighting conditions – could have an increasing impact on the direction of the conflict that has raged since Russian forces invaded Ukraine more than nine months ago.
For the moment, both sides are being bogged down by heavy rain and muddy battlefields in some areas, experts said.
After a barrage of Russian artillery strikes on at least two occasions over the past two weeks, infrastructure teams in Ukraine were fanning out in round-theclock deployments to restore key basic services as many Ukrainians struggle with only a few hours of electricity per day – if any.
State power grid operator Ukrenergo said yesterday that electricity producers are now supplying about 80% of demand.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a think tank closely monitoring developments in Ukraine, said reporting from both sides indicates heavy rain and mud have had an impact, but wider freezing expected along the front lines in coming days could play a role.
ISW said Russian forces are digging in further east of the city of Kherson, from which they were expelled by Ukrainian forces more than two weeks ago, and continued “routine artillery fire” across the Dnipro River.
In the eastern Donetsk region, five people were killed in shelling over the past day, according to governor Pavlo Kyrylenko yesterday, when overnight shelling was reported by regional leaders in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk areas to the west.
Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov said one person was killed and three others injured in the north-eastern region.
The top UN official in Ukraine said civilians continued to pour out of Kherson yesterday.
UN resident co-ordinator Denise Brown said UN teams were ferrying in supplies including food, water, shelter materials, medicines, and blankets and mattresses, adding time is of the essence, before it becomes an absolute catastrophe.