Kiev’s mayor has said the city “can’t let Putin steal our Christmas” as Ukrainians prepare to tentatively celebrate the festive season with blackened trees, while Russian airstrikes topple power and wreak havoc on critical infrastructure.
Christmas trees will be erected across the Ukrainian capital to mark Christmas and the New Year, Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko told Ukrainian news agency RBC-Ukraine, but energy company YASNO said they would not be lit.
Mass events will remain prohibited by martial law, but “no one will cancel New Year and Christmas, and there must be a New Year atmosphere,” Klitschko told the network. “We cannot let Putin steal our Christmas.”
His call comes after weeks of continued air strikes on Ukraine’s power grid that have left families across the country intermittently without electricity, light or water.
Authorities are rushing to restore resources faster than Russia can wipe them out. Ukraine’s electricity operator Ukrenergo said on Tuesday it was operating at a 30% deficit, up 3% from the previous day, after implementing a series of “emergency shutdowns” in across the country in “various power plants”.
Kiev’s Christmas trees will be a sign of normalcy in several locations across the city, including the famous Sophia Square. Klitschko said they will be installed “to remind our children of the New Year’s mood.”
“You know, we don’t want to take St. Nicholas [Papai Noel] of the children,” he said.
But YASNO clarified that the trees would be erected, but without lights. In a brief statement on Facebook, the company said: “We don’t know about you, but we’re happy there will be [árvores] and a decision about the absence of illumination in them”.
YASNO cited the load that full lighting would place on the Ukrainian grid, saying it “will reduce a significant additional load on the grid. And, consequently, reduce the number of blackouts.”
Given deteriorating weather conditions, energy use is increasing, Ukrenergo said, saying he expected the energy deficit to be reduced as “units return to operation”. Seven waves of Russian missiles contributed to the latest round of disruptions, he said. THE CNN is unable to independently verify the number of missile waves.
But the race to fill gaps in the power grid is likely to be a recurring theme as Ukrainians brace for a cold, dark winter. As of Sunday, Kiev had “almost completely restored” its power, water, heating, internet and network coverage, Kiev’s city military administration said at the time.
“Don’t forget our tragedy”
Speaking ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Bucharest, the head of the military alliance said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “trying to use winter as a weapon of war”.
NATO allies have delivered generators to help Ukraine restore its collapsing power infrastructure, Jens Stoltenberg said, but added that he hopes the message from foreign ministers is that allies “need to do more”, including providing Ukraine with more air defense systems and ammunition.
And Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska urged the international community to keep the focus on the conflict as the festive season approaches.
“We hope that the approach of Christmas does not make you forget our tragedy and get used to our suffering,” she said in an interview with BBC radio on Tuesday during a visit to London.
“I know that nine months is a long time and Ukrainians are very tired of this war, but we have no choice. We are fighting for our lives. British audiences have a choice: they can get used to our tragedy and focus on their own important things in life,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on local authorities, including in Kiev, to do more to build his government’s “points of invincibility” – pop-up stations that provide shelter and services such as car-charging facilities. power, internet connections and hot water. 🇧🇷
Zelensky was critical of the program’s launch, especially in the capital, where he said only a few sites were working properly. “Other points still need improvement, to say the least,” he said. “Kiev residents need more protection.”
And Kiev Regional Clinical Hospital, one of Ukraine’s largest hospitals, was last week about to transfer patients undergoing dialysis treatment, which requires an uninterrupted supply of water, said Vitaliy Vlasiuk, deputy head of the Kyiv region’s military administration. , in a telephone interview. 🇧🇷
“Unfortunately, when power goes out in Kiev, the central water supply also often fails,” said Vlasiuk. “The lack of water supply is critical.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations said the situation in the southern Ukrainian cities of Mykolaiv and Kherson remained “dreadful” and “critical”. Almost a quarter of a million people in Mykolaiv alone face a lack of heat, water and power.
Source: CNN Brasil
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