KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Residents of Ukraine’s bombed capital carried empty bottles in search of water and ducked into cafes for power and warmth Thursday, turning into protest mode. live after the new Russian weapons the day before sunk the city and most of the country. to be sad.
In a situation hard to believe in a city of 3 million, some Kyiv residents went to collect water from the water pipes, while repair teams worked to reconnect the the goods.
Friends and family members communicated with each other to find out who was restoring the electricity and water. Some are one but the other. The previous day’s airstrike on Ukraine’s power grid was unprecedented.
Cafes in Kyiv by some minor miracle quickly became quieter on Thursday.
Oleksiy Rashchupkin, a 39-year-old investment banker, woke up to find that the water had been reconnected to his third-floor flat but the power was off. His freezer melted into black, leaving a mound on his floor.
Then he got into a cart and crossed the Dnieper river from the left to the right, to the cafe he saw that remained open after the previous Russian strikes. Of course, they serve hot drinks, hot food and music with Wi-Fi.
“I’m here because it’s warm, it’s coffee and it’s light,” he said. “This is life.”
The Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko reported that 70% of the Ukrainian capital was without power on Thursday morning.
While Kyiv and other cities are on the rise, Kherson on Thursday came under its heaviest shelling since Ukrainian forces retook the southern city two weeks ago. Four people were killed outside the coffee shop and a woman was killed next door, witnesses said, speaking to Associated Press reporters.
In Kyiv, where a cold rain fell on the remnants of the former snow, it looked dark but iron. Winter promises to be long. But Ukrainians say that if Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to break them up, he should think again.
“No one compromises their needs and principles just for electricity,” says Alina Dubeiko, 34. She, too, sought the comfort of another, the same tight, warm coffee and the lamp. With no electricity, heating or running water at home, she struggled to keep up with her work. Adapting to the old lifestyle, Dubeiko said she uses two glasses of water to wash up, then puts her hair in a ponytail, ready for her day at work.
He said he would rather be out of power than live with the Russian invasion, which marked nine months on Thursday.
“It’s not clear, is it you? If you don’t,” he said, quoting President Volodymyr Zelenskky’s comments when Russia launched on October 10 the first of what have now become air strikes on in the main structures of Ukraine.
Western leaders condemned the bombing campaign. “Attacks against civilian structures are a war crime,” French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Thursday that he targeted Ukrainian power plants. But he said that they are connected to the command and control system of the Ukrainian army, and the purpose is to disrupt the flow of Ukrainian troops, weapons and ammunition to the front lines. The authorities for Kyiv and the general area of Kyiv reported that 7 people were killed and many wounded.
Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said: “We are conducting strikes against structures in response to the unrestrained flow of weapons to Ukraine and Kyiv’s demands to defeat Russia.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also sought to shift the blame for public problems to the government of Ukraine.
“Ukrainian leaders have an opportunity to restore the situation, they have every opportunity to resolve the situation in a way to meet the demands of the Russian side, and therefore, the suffering will end entire population,” Peskov said. .
In Kyiv, people lined up at public water points to fill plastic bottles. During the new war for him, 31-year-old employee of the Health Department Kateryna Luchkina to collect water from the water pipe, so that she can wash her hands at work, there is no water. He filled two plastic bottles and waited patiently in the rain until the water was on the side. A colleague follows behind him, and so on.
“We Ukrainians are very smart, we will think of something. We will not lose our spirit,” said Luchkina. “We will work and live in the moment of life, or something, as much as possible. We will not lose hope that everything will be fine.
The city’s mayor said on Telegram that generators “are working well” to save electricity. Water reform groups are also making progress. In the early afternoon, Klitschko announced that water supplies had been restored throughout the city, warning that “some customers are still suffering from water pressure.”
Electricity, heat and water are also recycled elsewhere. In Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the governor said 3,000 miners trapped underground due to power outages have been rescued. Local authorities posted announcements on social media informing residents of the progress of repairs but saying it would take time.
Remember the difficulties – now and in the future, as the winter progresses – the authorities are opening thousands of so-called “places of impossibility” – hot spots and power stations that offer hot meals, electricity and internet connections. More than 3,700 were opened across the country on Thursday morning, said a senior official in the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
In Kherson, hospitals without power and water are still struggling with the devastating after-effects of Russian weapons. They hit residential and commercial buildings on Thursday, setting fires, sending ash into the sky and shattering glass across the streets. Paramedics helped the injured.
Olena Zhura was taking bread to her neighbors when half of her house was attacked and her husband Victor was wounded. He winced in pain as the paramedics took him away.
“I was shocked,” she said, with tears in her eyes. “Then I heard (him) calling: ‘Save me, save me.
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Mednick spoke from Kherson, Ukraine.
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