Since October, Moscow’s forces have launched hundreds of missiles and drones at energy infrastructure far from the front line, temporarily cutting off electricity, heat and water to millions.
Their attacks appear to be aimed at breaking the country’s power grid and the will of the people with it — a campaign of terror that violates international law.
But Ukrainians have persevered through the cold and darkness.
... Temperatures in Ukraine during the winter months typically range between 23 and 36 degrees Fahrenheit (-4.8 C and 2 C), and regularly plunge to -5 degrees Fahrenheit (-21.6 C). Though this winter has been milder than most, life has been brutal for those in towns and villages pummelled in the country’s east, parts of which haven’t had electricity for months. ... “By using terror and cold, the Russians want to break our spirit and unity. They believe that cold will become their most effective weapon of subjugation, so they are trying to destroy our power generation facilities. They are also trying to break up our national power grid by targeting substations so that even if there is power, it cannot be transferred from one part of the country to another,” Yaroslav Demchenkov, Ukraine’s deputy energy minister, told CNN in late January.
“Russia is trying to steal the light from our homes, but they will not be able to put out the light inside Ukrainians or break our will,” he added.
Against all odds, Ukraine has managed to keep the grid from collapsing. The government introduced scheduled power outages in some cities and towns, disconnecting consumers for four-hour blocks three times a day to help conserve energy, while electrical engineering crews raced to make repairs.
During blackouts, doctors have carried out heart surgeries under headlamps, families have cooked meals on camping stoves in their apartments and students have done homework by battery-powered flashlights. Meanwhile, parents have taken their children to “points of invincibility,” tents equipped with generators, to get a hot cup of tea, charge phones and, according to one photograph that went viral, connect life-saving medical equipment.
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Originally Posted by Meian
