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KYIV, Ukraine , Nov 01 (AP) \u2014 The decorative candles Yaroslav Vedmid bought more than a year ago were never meant to be lit, but the dried wax that now clings to them attests to how they\u2019ve been used almost nightly \u2014 a consequence of power cuts across Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Seated at the dinner table with his wife in a village on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, the two can\u2019t count the number of times they\u2019ve eaten in the dark since Russian attacks triggered the blackouts beginning in early October. Moscow has openly declared its intention to target the country\u2019s energy infrastructure and drive the nation into the cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re relying on electricity, the worst thing is that you can\u2019t plan \u2026 Psychologically it\u2019s very uncomfortable,\u201d said Vedmid, a 44-year-old business owner in Bilohorodka. The cuts are getting longer \u2014 nearly 12 hours of outages a day, he said.<\/p>\n
So far, Russia has destroyed about 40% of Ukraine\u2019s energy infrastructure, affecting 16 regions, according to the Ukrainian government.<\/p>\n
The latest assault came Monday, when a massive barrage of Russian cruise missile and drone strikes hit Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities, knocking out water and power supplies in apparent retaliation for what Moscow alleged was a Ukrainian attack on its Black Sea fleet.<\/p>\n
In Kyiv, some 80% of consumers in the city of 3 million were left without water because of damage to a power facility Monday. By Tuesday, water was fully restored as well as some power. Kyiv region governor, Oleksiy Kuleba said that 20,000 apartments in the region remained without power.<\/p>\n
The unpredictable rolling blackouts are increasing as the government scrambles to stabilize the energy grid and repair the system ahead of winter. The cuts add another layer of angst and uncertainty to a population already struggling with the stress of nearly nine months of war.<\/p>\n
To try to ease people\u2019s burdens, energy companies are publishing daily schedules of when neighborhoods won\u2019t have power. But it\u2019s not consistent, especially as strikes intensify. Last week a power station in the central region was damaged, causing an emergency shutdown and prompting the government to warn citizens of tougher and longer outages.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, the destruction and damage are serious,\u201d Kyiv region Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba said in a Telegram post. \u201cIt is necessary to prepare for emergency power outages for an indefinite period,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Across the capital, residents are stocking up on heaters, blankets, warm clothing and power banks to charge electronics. While most say they\u2019re willing to bear the brunt of the blackouts for the sake of the war, the frequency and fluidity of the outages are taxing.<\/p>\n
Starting Tuesday, the government plans to change the schedule of the Kyiv subway to include longer wait times to save energy.<\/p>\n
On the day that The Associated Press visited Vedmid\u2019s house in October, there was an unscheduled five-hour power outage and then a scheduled one during dinner.<\/p>\n
Every time the power shuts off, the family loses internet service. Because the village also has a weak phone network, the household is often unable to communicate with others.<\/p>\n
Staring at his mobile phone, Vedmid shrugs. Google Maps isn\u2019t working, and he doesn\u2019t know how long it will take to reach the train station for a planned trip with his wife to the country.<\/p>\n
But what concerns him most are the months ahead when temperatures could drop to minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit). \u201cMy major fears are for (the) cold part of season, for winter, because right now it influences our comfort but doesn\u2019t threaten our lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The family has ordered a generator, which should be installed by December, but demand has spiked and not everyone can afford to buy one or the fuel to run it. Diesel has doubled in price since the start of the war, local residents said.<\/p>\n
Still, some have found a silver lining to the shutdowns. Vedmid\u2019s wife, Olena, said she reads more books rather than constantly refreshing the internet to see the latest war developments. It helps her feel less anxious.<\/p>\n
If not for Russia\u2019s incessant shelling and the lack of repair equipment, much of which must be imported, the damage could be restored within weeks, energy experts said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main danger is repeated missile attacks,\u201d said professor Gennadii Riabtsev, chief researcher on energy security at the National Institute for Strategic Studies. Residents of cities near the front lines, such as Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, will suffer the most from the outages, he said.<\/p>\n
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KYIV, Ukraine , Nov 01 (AP) \u2014 The decorative candles Yaroslav Vedmid bought more than a year ago were never meant to be lit, but the dried wax that now clings to them attests to how they\u2019ve been used almost nightly \u2014 a consequence of power cuts across Ukraine. Seated at the dinner table with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-203821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203821\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}