KYIV, Ukraine—Russia’s attempts to destroy Ukraine’s heating and power capacity has added a new dimension to the conflict, with Moscow seeking to erode the resilience of Ukrainian civilians even as the Kremlin attempts to regain the initiative against Kyiv on the battlefield.
Kyiv says the systematic destruction of power stations and heating infrastructure across the country over the past 10 days aims to bend Ukrainians’ will by causing a humanitarian catastrophe as temperatures drop.
“Russia is trying to destroy the energy system of Ukraine, to make our people suffer even more,’’ Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky
said in his nightly address Thursday.
With the new tactic, Western experts say, Moscow hopes to force Kyiv to the negotiating table despite the Kremlin’s poor military performance on the battlefield, where its troops are being pushed back by better trained, more motivated and often better-equipped defenders. Russia is also seeking to play for time as it rushes tens of thousands of newly mobilized men to the conflict.
On Thursday, with about a third of Ukraine’s power generation destroyed, Kyiv called on residents to limit their use of electricity.
Mr. Zelensky said he would meet with officials to accelerate repairs to facilities and urged residents to ration their use while the work is under way.
“The general situation requires very conscious use of electricity,” he said in a video address late on Wednesday, asking Ukrainians to limit electricity consumption between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. and to explain the recommendations to relatives and friends.
“Everyone who follows this simple rule in peak hours is helping the whole country,” he said.
Ukrainians took refuge in a Kyiv subway station.
A woman prayed as an air-raid siren sounded in Kyiv.
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