Ukraine faces harsh winter as strikes cripple power facilities

Kherson residents charge their phones at the train station, one of the few buildings in the city with electricity Saturday. Pic/AFP

Ukrainians braced for a winter with little or no power in several areas including the capital where temperatures have already dropped below freezing as relentless Russian strikes crippled the country's energy capacity.

President Volodymyr Zelensky urged people to conserve power, particularly in hard-hit areas such as Kyiv, Vinnytsia in the southwest, Sumy in the north and Odesa on the Black Sea. Moscow's response to military setbacks in recent weeks has included a barrage of missile strikes against power facilities, and Zelensky said half of the country's power capacity had been knocked out by Russian rockets.

"The systematic damage to our energy system from strikes by the Russian terrorists is so considerable that all our people and businesses should be mindful and redistribute their consumption throughout the day," Zelensky said. "Try to limit your personal consumption of electricity."

Millions of Ukrainians are most likely to live with blackouts at least until the end of March, Sergey Kovalenko, the head of YASNO, which provides energy for Kyiv, said on Monday. He said workers are rushing to complete repairs before the cold arrives.

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