Ukraine’s Russian Winter: “Don’t Turn Back”

of Athena Papakosta

Ukrainian refugees not to return to the country until the spring to help relieve pressure on the energy system after Russia’s “storm” of attacks. This is what the Ukrainian government asked of the residents who have left the country.

“The networks won’t last. You see what Russia is doing,” Ukrainian Vice President Irina Vereshchuk said on state-run Ukrainian television.

Russian bombing has destroyed at least 1/3 of the country’s energy infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier admitted. “We have to survive this winter,” noted Ms. Vereschuk in dramatic tones, repeating that “if possible, stay abroad.”

The Ukrainian economy has been suffering since the start of the war and beyond.

Kyiv needs an “injection” of $38 billion to cover next year’s budget deficit.

For its part, the International Monetary Fund stressed that Ukraine would need three billion dollars every month to survive and five billion dollars if Russian bombing intensified.

At the same time, the total cost so far of Russia’s hammering of Ukraine’s infrastructure (houses, public buildings, etc.) is estimated by the World Bank at 350 billion dollars

Russian forces have stepped up missile strikes and drone strikes against the country’s energy infrastructure, notably after the Crimean bridge explosion.

Moscow invests in winter as an ally to drive Ukrainians into impoverishment. Already cities are plunged into darkness and their inhabitants are left without food and without heating, while in Mykolaiv citizens form queues for some water and other basic goods.

In the latest attacks, the areas in Cherkasy, southeast of the Ukrainian capital, and Khmelnytskyi, in the west, were targeted, while in the last 24 hours, Kiev has accused Moscow of preparing an attack on a hydroelectric plant in the Kherson region.

At the same time, Europeans are discussing a “Marshall Plan” to rebuild Ukraine. The German chancellor described it as “the mission of our generation” referring to the future of a “developed, stable and resilient Ukraine”. For her part, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasized that “every euro is an investment for Ukraine”.

The war in the country has officially entered its ninth month with Ukrainians pushing south and east but the overall picture on the front remains stagnant. For their part, Russian forces have managed to disable nearly half of Ukraine’s thermal power plants, continuing their hammering of the country’s energy and other infrastructure. And all this while the attention of many is focused on the mutual accusations of the belligerents for using “dirty” radioactive bombs.

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