Whale Large Capital
  • Politics
  • World News
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Politics
  • World News
  • Business
  • Investing

Whale Large Capital

World News

Ukrainians have learned to live with power blackouts. But a cold, dark winter is looming

by August 27, 2024
August 27, 2024
Ukrainians have learned to live with power blackouts. But a cold, dark winter is looming

When hundreds of Russian missiles and drones assaulted Ukraine on Monday morning, Victoria Novorzhytska’s power went out first. The water supply was cut immediately after that.

She knew immediately the day would turn into a struggle. She works from her home in Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv, and no power means no work.

Russia launched its biggest ever aerial attack against Ukraine on Monday, hitting energy infrastructure across the country. More strikes landed on Tuesday morning, killing five people and raising the death toll from this week’s attacks to 12.

The Ukrainian government and the country’s major energy companies would not disclose the scale of the disruption from the onslaught, but it is clear it knocked out power for millions.

Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK announced rolling blackouts for number of regions on Monday, including Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk.

For people on the western outskirts of the capital, this meant six hours of darkness followed by two hours of power between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.

The scheduled cuts add inconvenience to people’s lives, but they at least allow them to plan around power outages – so that residents of high-rise apartment blocks don’t get stuck outside when the elevators are not working, and that people charge up vital electronic devices while the power is on.

That these blackouts are already needed in the summer is particularly worrying. This situation could be far worse in a few months’ time, when demand for electricity tends to be higher in the cold, dark winter.

“The key task is to get through the winter, to provide energy supply to critical infrastructure, people and the economy,” Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told reporters on Tuesday.

Shmyhal said the focus now was on repair and rebuilding. “We do this all the time, after each Russian shelling billions are allocated (and) equipment is brought to Ukraine.”

Powering up

Ukrainians have become used to living under the constant threat of blackouts. Monday’s attack stood out because of its massive scale, but it was not unusual in terms of the means Moscow used and the targets it chose. Energy infrastructure has long suffered from Russian strikes.

In Kyiv, authorities have set up “points of invincibility,” tents and other areas where people can charge their electronics and use the internet during power cuts.

The frequent attacks on energy infrastructure have also led many Ukrainian cities to invest in solar power. Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said the city has been subsidising the purchase of generators and solar panels by housing cooperatives and condominiums so that they can be independent of the energy network. The government has also put tax cuts and grants into place to help people get the equipment.

The vast majority of businesses, from tiny food stalls to huge shopping malls, now have their own generators, their deep rumble synonymous with blackouts.

Maksym Holubchenko, a 25-year-old barista in Kyiv said his cafe’s generator saves it from having to shut down every time there is a power cut after Russian strikes. It happens about once a month at the moment, he said.

Kyiv was hot on Monday and the thermometer on the wall in Holubchenko’s cafe showed 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). The generator is not powerful enough to cover the needs of a normal service in the the cafe, so Holubchenko has to make compromises.

“In the winter we have enough power from the generator. In the summer we have to switch off the air conditioner and… parts of the coffee machine,” he said.

The cafe has sockets ready for customers who need to charge up their phones and other gadgets, as well as use the internet during power cuts.

Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy grid since its full-scale invasion in February 2022 but this year Moscow began specifically targeting power generation facilities: thermal power plants, hydroelectric power stations and even energy storage facilities.

Olha Matskiv, a legal expert at Global Rights Compliance, an international NGO that is advising Ukraine on investigating and prosecuting war crimes, said the attacks are “creating conditions inside Ukraine that are incompatible with life.”

“This is a tactic that the Russian army is using to drain Ukraine’s internal reserves, both human and financial, slowing down the country’s economy, which cannot develop when businesses are closing due to lack of electricity,” she added.

The government has been trying to fortify Ukraine’s energy network so that it can withstand strikes, first wrapping them to protect them from shrapnel and then using reinforced concrete defenses that can withstand some direct hits.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Smyhal said the measures are working. “Dozens of missiles attacked substations on Monday and we lost a very small amount of our equipment out of dozens of hits yesterday thanks to the protection,” he told reporters.

He added that Ukraine is experimenting with huge protective structures the size of three football fields to cover bigger power stations.

“They are extremely expensive, and their economic feasibility is still not clear. The cost of such protection for six substations is 188 billion hryvnia ($4.5 billion). This is an incredible amount of money that partners are not ready to give and that is not in the state budget,” Smyhal said.

This post appeared first on cnn.com
0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
Falling Stock, Nvidia Braces for Critical Earnings Report
next post
How Trump was ‘orange-pilled’ by three bitcoiners in Puerto Rico and the promise of $100 million

You may also like

US officers who broke rank to save lives...

April 30, 2025

Three women die after eating Christmas cake in...

December 30, 2024

Eight killed in Serbian retirement home blaze

January 20, 2025

This company’s edible skincare products are full of...

May 8, 2025

Fury towards Netanyahu as Israelis protest renewed war...

March 19, 2025

Israeli politics swirl as Hezbollah conflict ramps up

September 27, 2024

Gaza death toll has been significantly underreported, study...

January 10, 2025

Trump wants to ‘clean out’ Gaza. Here’s what...

January 27, 2025

Pope Francis injures arm after falling at the...

January 16, 2025

Investigation highlights Israeli intelligence failures in lead-up to...

February 28, 2025

    Subscribe today to receive exclusive access to all our retirement secrets and income strategies, including special financial news and updates from our experts. From time to time, our newsletters feature valuable insights and analysis on the latest financial trends. Don't miss out on these exclusive updates – join our subscription to stay informed!


    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.



    Latest

    • Starbucks moves to the next phase in its turnaround: Winning over employees

      June 17, 2025
    • ‘It’s wrong’: Hawley warns Senate GOP not to boot Americans from Medicaid in Trump megabill

      June 16, 2025
    • Senate panel navigates delicate compromises on Medicaid, taxes in latest chunk of Trump’s megabill

      June 16, 2025
    • FLASHBACK: Trump launched his first presidential campaign ten years ago

      June 16, 2025
    • Mike Johnson calls off Israel trip amid Iran conflict

      June 16, 2025
    • Iran’s Mossad paranoia grows, amid fears of Israeli spies wearing ‘masks, hats and sunglasses’

      June 16, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (676)
    • Investing (661)
    • Politics (4,516)
    • World News (3,030)
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact us
    • About us

    Disclaimer: WhaleLargeCapital.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2024 WhaleLargeCapital.com | All Rights Reserved