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Kyiv prepares for a winter with no heat, water or power

Published:Sunday | November 6, 2022 | 10:16 AM
Vadym Zherdetsky stands in the remains of his house destroyed by fighting, in the village of Moshun, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 4, 2022. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, two missiles struck Zherdetsky's home in the tiny village of Moschun on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, ripping the roof off and nearly killing four of his family members. (AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, is warning residents that they must prepare for the worst this winter if Russia keeps striking the country's energy infrastructure — and that means having no electricity, water or heat in the freezing cold cannot be ruled out.

“We are doing everything to avoid this.

But let's be frank, our enemies are doing everything for the city to be without heat, without electricity, without water supply, in general, so we all die. And the future of the country and the future of each of us depends on how prepared we are for different situations,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko told state media.

Russia has focused on striking Ukraine's energy infrastructure over the last month, causing power shortages and rolling outages across the country.

Kyiv was scheduled to have hourly rotating blackouts Sunday in parts of the city and the surrounding region.

Rolling blackouts also were planned in the nearby Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava regions, Ukraine's state-owned energy operator, Ukrenergo, said.

Kyiv plans to deploy about a 1,000 heating points, but noted that this may not be enough for a city of three million people.

As Russia intensifies its attacks on the capital, Ukrainian forces are pushing forward in the south. Residents of Ukraine's Russian-occupied city of Kherson received warning messages on their phones urging them to evacuate as soon as possible, Ukraine's military said Sunday.

Russian soldiers warned civilians that Ukraine's army was preparing for a massive attack and told people to leave for the city's right bank immediately.

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