Ukraine is making progress in repairing infrastructure destroyed by Russian attacks. But President Zelenskyy is warning his compatriots of the difficult months ahead. Russia uses the cold as a weapon.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has prepared his compatriots for a harsh winter with fierce Russian attacks. "As long as they have missiles, they will not rest," said Zelenskyj in his video address in the evening about the Russian attackers. The Ukrainian army is preparing to repel further shelling. "Russia is trying to use the cold against the people this winter," said Zelenskyj, referring to Moscow's targeted attacks on Ukrainian power and thermal power plants.
He called on the Ukrainians to give special support to people in need during the cold season. Now cohesion is required. "Together we will get through everything," emphasized the head of state. More than nine months after the start of the Russian war of aggression, particularly fierce fighting is raging in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. In freezing temperatures, many Ukrainian households are temporarily or even completely without heating, electricity and water.
Meanwhile, the authorities in the capital Kyiv are reporting good news: the military administration announced that the supply of electricity, water, heat and the mobile network in the three-million metropolis had been almost completely restored. The capital was without power for four days due to Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had criticized Kiev's mayor Vitali Klitschko in an unusually open way.
The Ukrainian authorities are also reporting progress from the recently liberated regional capital, Cherson, in the south of their country. In the meantime, around 17 percent of households have been connected to the electricity grid again, said regional governor Yaroslav Yanuschevych. The deputy chief of the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, published a photo taken in the dark on Telegram, which shows individual illuminated house windows.
After several months under Russian occupation, the Ukrainian army recaptured the city of Cherson and other places in the region of the same name in mid-November. Since then, the city, which once had 300,000 inhabitants, has not only been exposed to fierce Russian attacks, but has also been struggling with massive problems with the electricity, heat and water supply. In view of the difficult situation, the Ukrainian government started driving civilians to other parts of the country to spend the winter a few days ago.
