News
Ukraine Races to Restore Power as Millions Face Blackouts
Published
1 year agoon
By
New Yorker
Fleeing shelling, civilians on Saturday streamed out of the southern Ukrainian city whose recapture they had celebrated just weeks earlier.
The exodus from Kherson came as Ukraine solemnly remembered a Stalin-era famine and sought to ensure that Russia’s war in Ukraine doesn’t deprive others worldwide of its vital food exports.
A line of trucks, vans and cars, some towing trailers or ferrying out pets and other belongings, stretched a kilometer or more on the outskirts of the city of Kherson.
Days of intensive shelling by Russian forces prompted a bittersweet exodus: Many civilians were happy that their city had been won back, but lamented that they couldn’t stay.
“It is sad that we are leaving our home,” said Yevhen Yankov, as a van he was in inched forward. “Now we are free, but we have to leave, because there is shelling, and there are dead among the population.”
Poking her head out from the back, Svitlana Romanivna added: “We went through real hell. Our neighborhood was burning, it was a nightmare. Everything was in flames.”
Emilie Fourrey, emergency project coordinator for aid group Doctors Without Borders in Ukraine, said an evacuation of 400 patients of Kherson’s psychiatric hospital, which is situated near both an electrical plant and the frontline, had begun on Thursday and was set to continue in the coming days.
Ukraine in recent days has faced a blistering onslaught of Russian artillery fire and drone attacks, with the shelling especially intense in Kherson. Often the barrage has largely targeted infrastructure, though civilian casualties have been reported. Repair crews across the country were scrambling to restore heat, electricity and water services that were blasted into disrepair.
Russia has ratcheted up its attacks on critical infrastructure after suffering battlefield setbacks. A prominent Russian nationalist said Saturday the Russian military doesn’t have enough doctors, in what was a rare public admission of problems within the military.
In the capital Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy oversaw a busy day of diplomacy, welcoming several European Union leaders for meetings and hosting an “International Summit on Food Security” to discuss food security and agricultural exports from the country. A deal brokered by the U.N. and Turkey has allowed for safe exports of Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea amid wartime disruptions that have affected traffic.
“The total amount we have raised for ‘Grain from Ukraine’ is already about $150 million. The work continues,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly TV address. “We are preparing up to 60 ships. All of us together do not just send Ukrainian agricultural products to those countries that suffer the most from the food crisis. We reaffirm that hunger should never again be used as a weapon.”
The prime ministers of Belgium, Poland and Lithuania and the president of Hungary were on hand, many others participated by video. Zelenskyy said more than 20 countries supported the summit.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukraine — despite its own financial straits — has allocated 900 million hryvna ($24 million) to purchase corn for countries including Yemen, Sudan, Kenya and Nigeria.
Our food security summit was supported by more than 20 countries. The total amount we have raised for ‘Grain from Ukraine’ is already about 150 million US dollars. The work continues. We are preparing up to 60 ships. All of us together do not just send Ukrainian agricultural products to those countries that suffer the most from the food crisis. We reaffirm that hunger should never again be used as a weapon.
Air raid warnings sounded throughout Ukraine Tuesday as Russian forces continued its barrage of strikes across the country.
The reminder about food supplies was timely: Ukrainians were marking the 90th anniversary of the start of the “Holodomor,” or Great Famine, which killed more than 3 million people over two years as the Soviet government under dictator Josef Stalin confiscated food and grain supplies and deported many Ukrainians.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz marked the commemoration by drawing parallels with the impact of the war on Ukraine on world markets. Exports from Ukraine have resumed under a U.N.-brokered deal but have still been far short of pre-war levels, driving up global prices.
“Today, we stand united in stating that hunger must never again be used as a weapon,” Scholz said in a video message. “That is why we cannot tolerate what we are witnessing: The worst global food crisis in years with abhorrent consequences for millions of people – from Afghanistan to Madagascar, from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa.”
He said Germany, with the U.N.’s World Food Program, will provide an additional 15 million euros for further grain shipments from Ukraine.
Scholz spokes as a cross-party group of lawmakers in Germany are seeking to pass a parliamentary resolution next week that would recognize the 1930s famine as “genocide.”
Last year Ukraine and Russia provided around 30% of the world’s exported wheat and barley, 20% of its corn, and over 50% of its sunflower oil, the U.N. has said.
In a post on the Telegram social network on Saturday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said more than 3,000 specialists for a local utility continued to work “around the clock” and had succeeded in restoring heat to more than more than 90% of residential buildings. While about one-quarter of Kyiv residents remained without electricity, he said water serviced had been returned to all in the city.
The scramble to restore power came as Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo met Saturday with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
“This might be a difficult winter,” he said, alluding to Belgium’s contributions of generators, and support for schools and hospitals in Ukraine, as well as military aid such as “fuel, machine guns, propelled artillery and so on.”
“And by standing here, we hope that we provide you hope and resilience in fighting through this difficult period.”
___
Mednick reported from Kherson, Ukraine.
Source: NBC New York
Chiefs’ Andy Reid impresses with perfect ceremonial first pitch at Royals’ Opening Day
Joe Rogan lashes out at Conor McGregor over UFC legend’s ‘crazy talk’
Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr. dead at 87
Pennsylvania man in ‘Scream’ mask killed neighbor with chain saw then went home to watch a movie, police say
World premiere of Genesis Neolun at New York Auto Show
Baltimore Lost More Than a Bridge
King Charles Is ‘Utterly Determined’ to Show Unity Among the Royal Family Amid Health Battles
Los Angeles Theatre Week Provides Access to Affordable Productions
Living with an anti-reunification North Korea – Asia Times
Thousands of phones and routers swept into proxy service, unbeknownst to users
My Favorite Things an Amazon Echo Show Can Do
After a year of turmoil, Harvard’s applications drop
Here’s Proof the AI Boom Is Real: More People Are Tapping ChatGPT at Work
‘The Matrix’ Cast Then and Now, 25 Years After Keanu Reeves Became Neo
Celtics’ late-game struggles continue in second straight loss to Hawks: 7 takeaways
Trending
-
Wellness24 hours ago
Is Masseter Botox Worth It? We Asked 8 People for Their Honest Reviews
-
Auto24 hours ago
The New Toyota 4Runner Shows Its Back End for the First Time
-
Tech20 hours ago
Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
-
Wellness23 hours ago
Are LED Light Masks Bad for Your Eyes?
-
Tech23 hours ago
FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison
-
Auto22 hours ago
Polestar Says More BST Performance Models Are Coming
-
Auto23 hours ago
The $24,999 Fisker Ocean Might Not Actually Exist
-
Travel23 hours ago
MANCHESTER CITY AND ETIHAD AIRWAYS ANNOUNCE LAUNCH OF COMMUNITY FOOTBALL PROJECTS ACROSS INDIA