Although the fiercest fighting is taking place in the trenches of Donbass, the war in Ukraine reaches all corners of the country with continuous Russian attacks on its infrastructure that have caused blackouts in dozens of its cities for weeks. Russia will continue this Monday with the destruction of the energy supply, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned last night, while more than 4.5 million consumers were already without electricity on Sunday. The worst is yet to come, the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klichkó, warned a day earlier, warning his inhabitants to prepare to evacuate the capital if it runs out of electricity or water.
The mayor urged Kyivs to consider "spending some time" with friends or relatives outside the city, he said in a television interview on Saturday, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure. "His goal of him is that we die, freeze or make us flee our land so that he can appropriate it. That is what the aggressor wants to achieve," Klichkó added.
The country faced a projected 32 percent shortfall in power supply on Monday, Sergei Kovalenko, chief executive of YASNO, a major energy provider for the capital, reported on his Facebook page.
In the south, Russia and Ukraine continue to exchange accusations as Ukraine advances towards the city of Kherson, under Russian control since the first days of the invasion and soon to be the scene of a decisive battle. Ten towns in the region of the same name were left without electricity on Sunday for the first time since the Russian occupation, due to "(Ukrainian) sabotage of the power lines," said the deputy governor of Kherson installed by Moscow, Kiril Stremoúsov, on his TV channel. Telegram.
Apparently today the electricity and communications have been partially restored in the capital of the region and it is not known if the water supply has also been restored. In addition, the administration of the region has terminated the evacuation of people (which Kyiv calls "forced deportations") from Kherson and suspended the crossing of the Dnieper River by civilian boats on Monday.
According to local emergency services on Sunday, three electricity transmission towers were damaged on the Berislav-Kajovka highway. On the same day, Stremoúsov claimed that Ukrainian forces hit the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric plant, located about 50 kilometers upstream of Kherson on the Dnieper River, with US HIMARS missiles. This Monday he affirmed that the attack has not been significant.
Meanwhile, from the United States, Kyiv's main ally and financier in the war, comes the news that the Joe Biden administration is privately encouraging Zelensky to show a willingness to negotiate with Russia, according to the Washington Post. According to the newspaper, the US government is not aiming to push Ukraine to the negotiating table, but rather it was intended as an attempt to ensure that Kyiv maintains the support of other countries less convinced to support its cause. Doubts deepen in parts of Europe, Africa and Latin America, where the consequences of the war on food and fuel shortages hit hard.
Zelensky signed a decree on October 4 formally declaring the possibility of any talks between Ukraine and Putin "impossible," but leaving the door open for talks with Russia.
