Ukrainians braced for bleak winter as blackouts set to continue until March

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian missile strikes have damaged more than 50% of the country’s energy facilities, and the World Health Organisation is warning that millions face a “life-threatening” winter in Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities are evacuating civilians from recently liberated sections of the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, fearing that a lack of heat, power and water due to Russian shelling will make conditions too unlivable this winter (Bernat Armangue/AP)

Rolling blackouts across Ukraine may continue until March, according to one of the country’s energy chiefs, as Ukrainians brace for a grim winter after weeks of relentless Russian strikes against the country’s power grid.

Sergey Kovalenko, chief executive of private energy provider DTEK Yasno, said in a Facebook post late on Monday that the company is under instructions from Ukraine’s state grid operator to resume emergency blackouts in the areas it covers, including the capital, Kyiv, and the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region.