Over a million Ukrainians with no electricity or heating
Massive Russian air strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure have left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity or heating in freezing temperatures. According to the government, 1.2 million households are currently without power. What is Russia trying to achieve with its unremitting attacks on energy facilities?
Attack on the heart of democracy
Blogger Olexiy Panych explains in Espreso why Russia is terrorising civilians:
“When the Russians attack Ukrainian cities and strike fear into the hearts of the civilian population (non-combatants), they not only demonstrate a cynical contempt for the lives of all those who have not submitted to them but also unwittingly acknowledging that there is real democracy in Ukraine. They strike precisely where Ukraine's most important 'centre of decision-making' remains. It makes no sense for Ukraine to respond to the Russians in kind, because the relationship between the population and the authorites in Russia is so different to that in Ukraine that it's as if we were on different planets.”
Energy truce becoming indispensable
In a Facebook post, political scientist Nikolay Mitrokhin suspects that with its infrastructure on the brink of collapse, Ukraine is more willing to make compromises:
“Zelensky was the first to blink. According to the Financial Times, Trump and Zelensky want to propose an 'energy truce' to Putin. In freezing Ukraine, with pipeline systems that will be non-functional for years to come and obvious problems with maintaining the power supply in winter for those same years, ... Zelensky has realised that in terms of success, the advantage gained from striking Russian refineries and oil ports and attacking oil tankers in the Black Sea (not to mention 'retaliatory strikes' against thermal power stations in Russia's border regions) is nothing in comparison to the problems it will cause.”
The world is deaf and blind
In an Instagram post republished by Echo, entertainer Maxim Galkin appeals to the world to heed the suffering in Ukraine:
“After the latest Russian missile attacks, the power grid has been severely damaged, especially in Kyiv. People are freezing in their homes; thousands of households are without electricity and heat. Not everyone fully understands the scale of this man-made humanitarian disaster. And I have the feeling that the world — in which the abnormal has rapidly become commonplace — has grown deaf and blind to the tragedy now unfolding. Ukrainians don’t have time for social media posts right now, so I am speaking instead to those who are warm: please think about those freezing in Ukraine!”