Few lights brighten apartment buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine, at night. Temperatures plunge.
Ukraine’s energy minister is Denys Shmyhal. He reports that Russia has not spared a single Ukrainian power plant from attack since its all-out invasion in February 2022. That leaves hundreds of thousands of people shivering in the dark.
Raisa Derhachova, an 89-year-old physicist, lives alone in a Kyiv apartment. She sometimes plays the piano in what she calls “this terrifying cold.”
“Of course, it’s hard to survive this,” she says. “We survived World War II, and now this terrible war is upon us.”
Russia has hammered Ukraine’s power grid throughout the almost four-year war. It aims to weaken the Ukrainian will to resist. Kyiv officials call the strategy “weaponizing winter.”
Emergency repair crews labor long hours in the snow. In the town of Boryspil, they manage to restore the supply for four hours per day.
Yurii Bryzh works for DTEK, a private electricity provider. He leads the Boryspil department. He says, “When the power comes back on, people turn on all the electrical equipment that is available in the house.” They rush to wash, cook, or recharge phones. Bryzh says this pattern collapses the system again.
Ukraine has eased curfew restrictions. That allows people to go at any time to public heating centers set up by the authorities. Shmyhal notes hospitals, schools, and other critical infrastructure remain the top priority for electricity and heat supplies.
The power shortage is extreme. Getting replacement equipment such as transformers can take months. Shmyhal urges businesses to switch off lighted outdoor signs to save electricity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says securing new missile supplies from abroad for air defenses that can counter Russia’s power grid attacks is a difficult process. He revealed that some of the country’s air defense systems were out of missiles until a new shipment arrived on January 16.
Zelenskyy says a Ukrainian delegation is on its way to the United States. It will seek to finalize documents for a proposed peace settlement. The settlement relates to postwar security guarantees and economic recovery.
If American officials approve the proposals, the United States and Ukraine could sign the documents the week of January 19 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Russia would still need to be consulted on the proposals.
Pray that world leaders will facilitate an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. — James 3:18
