Ukraine is scrambling to repair Kyiv’s damaged power grid after the latest Russian attack
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Kyiv’s water and heating systems were back on after being briefly shut down during a bitter cold snap in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday, as engineers tried to stabilize an electricity grid that had come to the brink of a campaign of Russian strikes this week.
The attack on Friday “caused serious civilian casualties and deprived millions of Ukrainians of essential services, including electricity, heating and water at a time of greatest humanitarian need,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations Secretary General.
Russia has regularly bombed Ukraine’s energy system since it attacked its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022, which caused power outages for many hours every day in major cities.
Heat and water infrastructure have also been hit hard in recent weeks, which is a growing concern as temperatures are already below freezing and are set to drop further this coming week.
City officials said at midday Saturday that state grid operator Ukrenergo ordered Kyiv’s electricity system to be shut down and that water and heating systems, as well as electrified public transport, would stop working as a result.
A resident of Kyiv asks why ‘the whole world can’t be controlled by one man,’ referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Less than an hour later, Ukrenergo said engineers were able to quickly fix the problem, caused by damage from earlier Russian strikes, and that power was coming back online to parts of Kyiv.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the heating system, which is centralized in Ukrainian cities and pumps hot water to homes through pipes, is also coming back and she expects the heat supply to be fully restored on Saturday.
He said that the electricity situation is still difficult in the capital as the electricity is badly damaged and people are using electric heaters because of the cold.
On Friday, nearly 6,000 houses in Kyiv were left without heating after the latest Russian missile and drone attacks, as freezing temperatures set in. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said half of those blocks had heat restored on Saturday before being shut down again due to a power grid problem.
Ukraine is going backwards, Russia is also experiencing blackouts
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said Saturday that 600,000 residents were without electricity, heating and water after a Ukrainian missile strike.
In a statement sent to the Telegram messaging service, Vyacheslav Gladkov said that work is continuing to restore the necessary items but the situation is “a big challenge.”
Pictures taken by Reuters in the city of Belgorod show street lights turned off and locals finding their way using hand-held torches and car headlights.
Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and had a pre-war population of 1.5 million, has been under constant attack by Kyiv’s forces since Russia ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Temperatures in most of Russia and Ukraine have been well below freezing in recent days.
An oil depot in Volgograd was the target, officials said
Johannesburg – A Ukrainian airstrike sparked a fire at an oil depot in the southern Volgograd region of Russia, regional authorities said on Saturday.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, Gov. Andrei Bocharov was quoted as saying in a Telegram post published on the local authority’s channel. The post office did not specify the damage but said people living near the depot may have to be evacuated.
Russia used a new hypersonic missile to strike western Ukraine as a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies. This is the second time this missile has been used in the war that has been going on for almost four years. CBC’s Briar Stewart explains.
Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russian energy fields aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to continue its full-scale offensive.
Russia is seeking to cripple Ukraine’s electricity grid, seeking to deny residents access to heat, light and running water in what officials in Kyiv say is an attempt to “winterize.”
Saturday’s attack came a day after Russia attacked Ukraine with hundreds of non-aligned warplanes and dozens of missiles late Friday, according to Ukrainian officials, killing at least four people in the capital.
Separately, Russia fired a powerful hypersonic missile at a target in Ukraine near the border with NATO-member Poland this week, in what Kyiv’s European allies on Friday described as an attempt to intimidate them into supporting Ukraine.
