KYIV — When their apartment block in northern
Kyiv goes
dark just after 6pm as scheduled, residents Iren Rozdobudko and Igor Zhuk are
ready.
اضافة اعلان
She lights a candle, he switches on his head torch,
and they settle in for a quiet evening.
For much of the past month, Russian strikes have
heavily targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, severely damaging the
electricity network.
To ease the strain on the grid and avoid a total
blackout, national energy operator
Ukrenergo has imposed controlled power cuts
in the capital and elsewhere across the war-torn country. Residents can consult
the official schedule for rolling blackouts to pinpoint exactly when their
lights will go out.
The buildings in the neighborhood where Rozdobudko
and her husband Zhuk live experienced three four-hour power cuts on Saturday —
from midnight to 4am, 9am to 1pm and again from 6pm to 10pm.
“I like the semi-darkness, when it’s quiet, moody
and no one interrupts my thoughts,” says Rozdobudko, a 60-year-old writer and
artist, as she prepares a vegetable salad.
‘Agony and powerlessness’
If she had to, Rozdobudko
says she could cook borscht, a traditional beetroot soup, “with my eyes
closed”.
The gas stove in the flat still works and water
comes out of the tap even if the pressure is weak, she says. “There is cabbage
in the fridge, carrots, and other necessary items,” she adds.
With winter fast approaching, the writer is grateful
that the heating still works too.
Flashlights as well as candles, bought long ago for
decorative purposes, keep their flat illuminated. In the bathroom, they have
put up a camping lantern.
Outside, the neighborhood is plunged into darkness,
the odd faint light emerging from the windows of some nearby apartments. The
pitch-black pavements are lit up here and there by residents using torches or
mobile phone lights to guide them home.
But so widespread is the damage to Ukraine’s
electricity infrastructure that Ukrenergo said over the weekend that the
controlled blackouts were not enough to relieve the grid and additional power
cuts had to be imposed.
On Sunday, even the streets near the presidential
office in Kyiv, which had so far escaped the power outages, briefly went dark,
AFP reporters said.
Parts of the capital also experienced interruptions
to water supplies last week, following renewed Russian missile attacks.
Sitting by candlelight, Rozdobudko passes the time
sewing doll’s clothes. “I’d never be doing this if the lights were on,” she
admits.
The recent salvo of Russian strikes on the capital,
after a months-long lull, is a stark reminder of the war raging on the
frontlines in eastern and southern Ukraine, where deadly bombardments are a
daily occurrence.
For Zhuk, a scientist and singer, the bombing of
civilian infrastructure shows “the agony and powerlessness of the Russian army”.
Moscow’s troops are struggling to resist a Ukrainian counter-offensive that saw
Kyiv’s forces retake thousands of square kilometers in the northeast in
September.
Bracing for winter
“When they see that they
can’t defeat the (Ukrainian) army, they start fighting with those at the back —
the civilians,” he says.
In the heart of Kyiv, the city’s iconic Independence
Square, known as the Maidan, regularly goes dark. Without the streetlights on,
only the headlights from passing cars cut through the blackness after
nightfall. Restaurants have adapted too, offering candlelit dinners.
Almost 4.5 million Ukrainians were temporarily
without electricity nationwide on Thursday night, President
Volodymyr Zelensky
said, accusing Russia of “energy terror”.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has warned of a
“worst-case” scenario this winter with “no electricity, water, or heating” if
Russia keeps up its attacks. He said the city was preparing more than a
thousand heating points where residents could keep warm as the weather turns
ever colder.
“We have bought electric generators, stored water
and everything necessary for these heating points to accommodate people,” he
said.
Zhuk, the torchlight on his forehead burning
brightly, says he has resigned himself to a challenging time ahead. “It will
probably be a bit more difficult this winter, or maybe even a lot more
difficult. But we’re not in the worst situation yet.”
In a corner of the flat, Rozdobudko, visibly moved,
points to a letter on display. It was written by her grandchildren, who have
found refuge in the French city of Marseille.
“Hello grandpa and grandma. Is life going well in Ukraine?”
the letter reads. “If not, come and join us in France. We love you very much
and we support you.”
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