KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia has not spared a single power plant from attack since its full invasion, Ukraine’s new energy minister said Friday, as a recent escalation of aerial bombardment left hundreds of thousands of people without heat or power for days amid the coldest winter in years.
Denys Shmyhal said that Russia carried out 612 attacks on the objects of the energy infrastructure of Ukraine during the past year. That barrage has intensified in recent months as nighttime temperatures have dropped to minus 18 degrees C (minus 0.4 F).
“No one in the world has ever faced such a challenge,” Shmyhal told lawmakers in a speech in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.
Russia has hammered Ukraine’s power grid, especially in winter, during the nearly four-year war. It aims to weaken Ukraine’s will to resist in a strategy that Kiev officials call “weapon winter”.
The gloomy outlook approximately in the middle of the winter season coincides with uncertainty about the direction and progress of peace efforts led by the United States.
“This is a critical moment,” said Friday Jaime Wah, the deputy head in the Kiev delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
“This is the hardest winter since the escalation of the conflict: punishing cold temperatures and lack of heating and electricity are affecting millions who are already pushed to the edge by years of violence and economic strain,” he told a briefing in Geneva.
The power shortage in Ukraine is so desperate that Shmyhal has encouraged businesses to turn off their illuminated signs and outdoor decorations to save electricity.
“If you have excess energy, you better give it to the people,” said the energy minister. “This is the most important thing today. People will be grateful.”
Ukraine has introduced emergency measures, including temporarily easing curfew restrictions to allow people to go whenever they need to public warming centers set up by the authorities, Shmyhal said, adding that hospitals, schools and other critical infrastructure remain the top priority for electricity and heat supplies.
The officials instructed the state energy companies Ukrzaliznytsia, Naftogaz and Ukroboronprom to urgently buy imported electricity covering at least 50% of their own consumption, according to Shmyhal.
UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was in Kiev on Friday to mark the first anniversary of the “100-year partnership” between Britain and Ukraine. To coincide with the anniversary, Britain announced another 20 million pounds ($27 million) for repairs to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
A grinding war of attrition continues along the approximately 1,000 kilometer (600 mile) front line. For all its military might, Russia has managed to occupy less than 20% of Ukraine since 2014.
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