Russian troops have resumed shelling the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, cutting off power supplies to the recently liberated town, as heavy fighting continues in the east and officials have warned that Ukraine was facing a difficult winter due to Russian missile attacks on its infrastructure.
“The Russian invaders bombarded Kherson – power grids were damaged. The city again was left without electricity,” Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said. said on Telegram, adding that technicians were already at work repairing the damage and restoring power to the recently liberated town on the right bank of the Dnieper.
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Kherson was returned to Ukrainian control on November 11, as the Russian army retreated to the left bank of the Dnieper. Russian artillery took up new positions across the river and regularly pounded the town with artillery and rockets.
Three people were killed the day before in the city by Russian shelling, Yanushevych said.
Millions of Ukrainians are struggling without electricity and heating at the start of winter following waves of Russian strikes across the country, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said on December 2 that further attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure were “inevitable”. .
Ukrainian officials responded defiantly, promising to do everything to contain the damage.
Maksym Tymchenko, CEO of DTEK, a major electricity company, said on December 2 that DTEK’s six power plants had been attacked, some repeatedly. The company managed to bring them all back to the network, he said.
Tymchenko said he was convinced that there was no chance “for the Russians to plunge Ukraine into darkness”.
Still, there was a power generation deficit and power transmission problems, Tymchenko told the Kyiv Security Forum.
He said that in Kyiv, the company was trying to introduce “continuous controlled blackouts: three to four hours of electricity supply, followed by four hours of break. This situation will continue, we hopefully, until next week only, if there are no further attacks. . But we are prepared for further attacks.”
Furthermore, he said, “We managed to accumulate enough coal for the country, not just for our business. We have enough gas storage to use gas for power generation. So we have enough capacity for the whole country. »
“Transformers, substations, high voltage transformers: this is what we lacked and for which we are calling on our international partners. Some of the equipment is already on its way to Ukraine”, he said. declared.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko told the forum that last week Kyiv faced an almost total blackout. “There was no heat or water. And about 4,000 utility company workers worked day and night to restore them.”
Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told the forum that the coming months would be difficult.
“The enemy still has significant resources, but there are growing signs that they need a break at all costs,” he said.
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As fierce fighting continues in the east, where Kyiv forces have fought off waves of attacks in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the army reported on December 3 that during the previous day he shot down an enemy helicopter and six drones.
The General Staff said in its regular update that Russian forces launched five missile strikes, 27 airstrikes and 44 rocket attacks on civilian infrastructure and Ukrainian army positions along the contact line.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in its daily intelligence update that Russia was likely planning to encircle Bakhmut in the Donetsk region with tactical advances north and south.
Although capturing Bakhmut has limited operational value, it could allow Russia to threaten Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the ministry said on Dec. 3. “There is a realistic possibility that the capture of Bakhmut has become primarily a symbolic and political objective for Russia,” says the Twitter.
Battlefield reports could not be independently verified.
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