Kyiv prepares for a winter with no heat, water or power
Associated PressNov 06, 2022
Amid rolling blackouts in Kyiv and at least six other regions of Ukraine on Sunday, the city's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, urged residents to consider the prospect of evacuating the capital if the power situation deteriorates. Klitschko said authorities were preparing to deploy an estimated 1K "warming centers" across Kyiv but warned they'd be insufficient for a population of 3M if the city faced a total blackout.
He said: "So I’m also asking people, in a bad scenario, if we don’t have electricity or water, and if you have relatives or friends in the suburbs of Kyiv who have a separate water supply, a stove and heating, plan to stay there temporarily. Please make arrangements so that in the event of a bad scenario, you can stay with your friends or acquaintances for a while."
As Russia continues to attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure, many parts of the country, including Kyiv, will be forced to prepare for a winter with no heat, water, or power. The only good news is that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was reconnected to Ukraine’s power grid, as local media reported Sunday. Energy security is a concerning dimension of Ukraine's deepening humanitarian crisis.
According to reports, US and NATO officials have approved Kyiv's counteroffensive push in Kherson — instilling in Ukrainian leadership that peace talks from a position of strength would be possible if it retakes the strategically important area. Any news of possible negotiations must take this context into account.
There is a 2% chance that Putin and Zelenskyy will meet to discuss the peaceful resolution of the Russian-Ukraine conflict before 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.