ANNOUNCEMENTS•
After a day of intense Russian airstrikes on Ukraine, much of the city of Kharkiv is still without electricity. Air raid sirens sounded across the country this morning. The Russian military again fired dozens of missiles, at least 70 according to Ukrainian information.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian military says it is one of the most serious Russian attacks on the city since the outbreak of war in February.
According to Ukraine, about 60 shells were dropped from the air across the country. Despite this, Kharkiv, the second largest city after Kiev, has been hit hard. Nine plants suffered “colossal damage”, according to the mayor.
Some districts of Kharkov have now been supplied with electricity again, but large parts of the city still have to go without electricity and water.
Ukrainian authorities reported explosions in at least four cities: Kryvyi Rih (the home of President Zelensky), Kiev, Zaporizhia and Kharkiv. At least two people were killed, a third person was killed by fire after a shell hit.
Cold as a weapon
Russia has been attacking Ukrainian electricity supplies for weeks. With drone and missile attacks, Russia wants to deactivate the installations to use the winter cold as a weapon against the population.
Ukrainians must prepare for new attacks, President Zelensky warned in his daily speech. According to him, Russia has enough missiles to disable even more power plants in the near future.
See a report from the recently liberated city of Kherson below. Every day the city has to deal with Russian air raids.
Kherson under attack, but locals live on with their lives
At least 17,000 power generators are needed to get through the winter, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said. Hoping for support from abroad.
Help from the Netherlands
The Netherlands has so far provided 987 million euros in military aid to Ukraine, Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren wrote to the House of Representatives. Part of the equipment was sent directly to Ukraine.
Another part of the aid went through cooperation projects with other countries. The rest goes to the “International Fund for Ukraine”, a British initiative.
Watch the video below to see how Ukrainians deal with the winter cold.
This is how Ukraine copes with the cold and harsh winter