The Ukrainian government predicts that a time may come when the capital will no longer be liveable due to the power outage. The water pumps and sewers in the city, among other things, depend on electricity. If those basic services fail, Kyiv’s three million residents may have to be evacuated.
According to Roman Tkachuk, Kyiv’s chief of security, the population in the capital will be asked to leave if the power supply is so badly damaged that repair is not possible within 12 hours. More than 40 percent of the grid has already been damaged or destroyed, according to authorities, and there is an increasing risk of the grid collapse.
In an interview, which is quoted in The New York Times, Tkachuk says the country is “preparing for a cold winter.” That is why a thousand ‘heat shelters’ are being set up in Kyiv, heated rooms where residents can shelter from the cold and which can also serve as bunkers at the same time.
Allies, including the G7 countries, have promised pumps, generators, tents and blankets to help Ukrainians through the winter. There is also talk of supplying advanced anti-aircraft systems, something Ukraine has been asking for for months in order to better protect itself against Russian attacks with missiles and drones.
drones
Iran admitted on Saturday for the first time that it supplied “a limited number” of those drones to Russia. After weeks of denials, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said this would have happened “many months before the war in Ukraine.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the Iranians liars. According to him, the Ukrainian army shoots down about 10 Iranian drones every day, suggesting that Iran has supplied far more than a “limited number”. In addition, he said, Iran has sent instructors to train Russians in its use.
The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the US government has unofficially asked Zelensky to abandon his outright rejection of peace talks. The Ukrainian president could at least pretend to be willing to talk to Russia. The newspaper quoted anonymous sources as saying that the intention is not to actually force Ukraine to the negotiating table. One speaker warned against a certain ‘Ukraine fatigue’.
In late September, Zelensky said it was “impossible” for him to negotiate with Putin himself, but that he might want to talk after Putin was impeached: “We’ll talk to the next president.”
Kherson
On the front, it doesn’t look like the battle will be over any time soon. Russian attacks this weekend centered on the eastern city of Bachmoet, which was attacked from multiple sides. The Russians claimed territory without saying which ones, but Ukraine said it had repulsed all attacks.
There were also no breakthroughs with Kherson, who is determined to recapture Ukraine. There has been speculation for weeks that Russian troops will soon leave the southern city, but according to Natalya Gumenyuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian army on the ground, “Russia is just pretending.”
Several tens of thousands of residents of the city have been transferred to Russian-occupied areas in recent weeks. It is unknown how many Ukrainian citizens are still in the city. Before the war, Kherson had almost 300 thousand inhabitants.