The Ukrainian authorities on Saturday called on the population to “hold on” in the face of the power cuts which now punctuate their daily lives following Russian strikes in recent weeks which have largely damaged the national electricity grid.
“From Monday, I will demand that Oblenergo (an operator) review the timetables for the region. There will most likely be four-hour stops,” the governor of the Mykolaiv region (south), Vitaliï Kim, said on Telegram.
He described “increasing consumption” of electricity, which he said must require longer interruptions in order to relieve the regional electricity network.
“We have to hold on,” he told the inhabitants of his region.
Russia has massively bombed Ukrainian energy facilities since October, causing severe damage and leading to power cuts that affect millions of Ukrainians, plunged into darkness and cold every day.
On the military ground, the fighting is “tough” in the east of the country because “the Russians have had time to prepare” for the attacks in kyiv, the governor of the Lugansk region, Serguiï Gaïdaï, told Ukrainian television. .
“The Ukrainian armed forces are slowly pushing through the Russian (defense) towards Svatové-Kreminna,” he noted, however, without giving further details.
According to a morning bulletin from the Ukrainian army, the situation is “difficult” near Bakhmout, in the Donetsk region, which the Russians have been trying to conquer since the summer without succeeding at this stage.
The battle around this city took on all the more symbolic importance for Russian officials as its conquest would come after a series of humiliating defeats, with the retreats from Kharkiv (northeast) in September and Kherson (south) in November .
The same “difficulties” are encountered by kyiv troops in the Kherson region (south), from where the Russian army partly withdrew in November, saying it wanted to consolidate its positions.
“The Russians bombarded Kherson (and) damaged the power grids,” reads the report released on Saturday morning.