Almost half of Kyiv without heat, power, after Russian attack

KYIV, January 21 ------ An overnight Russian bombardment left thousands of residential buildings in Kyiv without heating and water in -14 degrees Celsius temperatures, when Ukraine’s capital was already scrambling to restore vital utilities destroyed in earlier attacks. The barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles, which targeted energy facilities across Ukraine, killed at least one 50-year-old man near Kyiv.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists in the capital heard air raid sirens and explosions as Ukrainian air defense systems responded to the drones and missiles. Sheltering in a metro station in the center of Kyiv, Marina Sergienko, a 51-year-old accountant, said she thought the repeated Russian strikes, which have left millions in the cold and dark over recent weeks, had a clear purpose. “To wear down the people, push things to some critical point so there’s no strength left, to break our resistance,” she told AFP, taking cover alongside dozens of other Kyiv residents bundled in hats and coats.

Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying: “War criminal Putin continues to wage a genocidal war against women, children, and the elderly.” He said Russian forces had targeted energy infrastructure overnight in at least seven regions, and urged Ukraine’s allies to bolster its air defense systems. “Support for the Ukrainian people is urgent. There will be no peace in Europe without a lasting peace for Ukraine,” he said on social media.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested he would skip the ongoing World Economic Forum in Switzerland to deal with the aftermath of the strike. But he kept open the possibility of going to the gathering of world leaders in the Swiss resort town of Davos if agreements with the United States on possible postwar economic and security support were ready to be signed.

Nationwide bombardment

Russia fired some 339 long-range combat drones and 34 missiles in the overnight barrage, Kyiv’s air force said. Zelensky, who had recently complained of slow arms deliveries, said Ukraine had received a shipment of ammunition for air defense systems just one day before the attack. The bombardment came around 10 days after the most significant Russian strike on Kyiv’s energy grid since its invasion almost four years ago. That strike, at dawn on Jan. 9, left half the capital without heating and many residents without electricity for days in subzero temperatures. Most of the buildings cut off on Tuesday were those affected on Jan. 9.

Schools have been closed until February, and streetlights dimmed in a bid to preserve energy resources. “After this attack, 5,635 residential buildings are without heating,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram — about half the capital’s apartment blocks. Much of Kyiv was also without running water, he added. “Almost half of Kyiv is in blackout right now,” Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa confirmed.

Source: manilatimes.net