Due to Russian strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Kyiv and its region regularly face power outages. According to the Ukrainian authorities, an evacuation of residents of the capital is mentioned, but is not on the agenda.
While Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for several weeks, Kyiv is considering various solutions, including an evacuation. More than 4.5 million Ukrainians were without power as of Sunday evening, most of them in and around Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address, acknowledging a “very difficult” situation.
The state-owned electricity company Ukrenergo is therefore planning a new “energy deficit” for Monday and alternating shutdowns from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. “Consumption should be reduced by 30%” to stabilize the grid, Ukrenergo explained.
Faced with these difficulties, The New York Times reported in an article published Saturday that the country’s capital, Kyiv, is preparing for “a total blackout that would require the evacuation of the city’s approximately three million remaining residents.”
“No reason to panic”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko admitted in a TV interview on Saturday that he could not rule out a total blackout scenario in his city: “We are calculating different scenarios to resist and be ready.”
“If we should run out of electricity or water and you have extended family or friends outside of Kyiv, in places where there was no shortage of water or heating, keep the option to go there. Stay longer than expected,” he advised Stadter.
However, he added on Telegram that there was “no need to panic” at this point. An opinion shared by Alexander Query, a journalist at the Kyiv Independent, an English-language Ukrainian outlet. He believes on BFMTV that the tone of the New York Times article is “very dramatic” compared to the way Kiev residents perceive the situation.
The fact that local authorities are advising residents to look for emergency shelter outside of the city “is nothing new,” he emphasizes.
Lesia Vasylenko, MP for the Ukrainian opposition, says nothing more: “I wouldn’t say it’s an emergency call, that there’s drama, it’s more a call for preparation.”
However, the regular power outages are forcing Ukrainians to adapt: ”We’re preparing more, we’re making sure our laptops are charged,” explains the journalist.
“Electricity also has a knock-on effect on communication,” as people access the Internet with their laptops, which “overwhelms end devices” and “slows down Internet communication tremendously,” describes Alexander Query.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy blames Iran
Kyiv isn’t the only city struggling with these difficulties. After two strikes for which Russians and Ukrainians blame each other, the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, which is still occupied by the Russian army despite a Ukrainian push, suffered a water and power outage on Sunday, and the Kakhovka Dam in the same region was damaged.
Russia is trying to make up for its military defeats in Ukraine by targeting vital infrastructure to subjugate that country by “freezing” its residents during the coldest months, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said at the G7 summit on Friday.
In his speech on Sunday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was “aware that the terrorist state (Russia) is concentrating forces and means for a possible repeat of massive attacks on our infrastructures, especially energy,” and accused Iran of supplying missiles to Moscow this purpose.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, quoted by the official agency Irna, admitted on Saturday that he had provided “a limited number of drones” to Russia “months before the war in Ukraine”. This is the first time Tehran has reported delivering drones to Moscow.