Despite the series of Russian bombing campaign which destroyed much of Ukraine’s civilian infrastructures, the invaded population wants to resist.
It was a cold day in Kyiv yesterday, as another bombing campaign by Russia disrupted Ukraine’s power centers. All nuclear power plants still controlled by Ukraine had to be stopped, leaving many cities in the dark.
According to ground reports, Ukrainian air defenses shot down 51 out of 70 Russian missiles, all aimed at civilian infrastructure. Those that hit their targets killed 10 civilians.
The West immediately condemned Russian attacks, with French President Emmanuel Macron calling them “war crimes”. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s President, implored again NATO to retaliate against Russia.
For their part, Russian officials denied having aimed at civilian targets. According to spokesman Igor Konashenkov, Russian strikes had the sole purpose of disrupting troop movements and military supply chains. He blamed Ukraine’s defense system if civilian targets were hit, as the anti-air guns are too close to the cities.
Others believe that the real reason for this strike was to beat the Ukrainians morale, forcing them to sit at the negotiations table. “Ukraine’s leadership has every opportunity to bring the situation back to normal, has every opportunity to resolve the situation in such a way as to meet the demands of the Russian side and, accordingly, end all possible suffering of the civilian population,” said Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov.
Life in a warzone
However, it seems that Russian attacks only had the opposite effects on the Ukrainian population. Reporters on the ground interviewed many civilians who said they will never concede to Putin, and would rather live in the cold.
The Russian strike disrupted electric power and water. People of various cities queued for water supplies, and Kyiv’s cafes were full of citizens seeking shelter and heat. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, 3.000 miners were trapped underground because of a power outage.
Immediately after the strike, infrastructure workers immediately tried to restore normal life. As of Thursday afternoon, water and power seems to have returned in the capital city, and life is back to “normal”.
The Russian strike comes after a sweeping Ukrainian counter-offensive which retook almost half of the occupied territory. Kyiv’s last major victory was the city of Kherson, formally the only capital center conquered by Russia.
With Kherson back in their hands, Ukraine can seriously think about liberating Crimea, the peninsula invaded by Russia in 2014. In fact, now Ukraine has taken back the Novaya Kakhovka dam, a vital supply point for the Russian forces in Crimea.
Of course, a new counter-offensive will take time, and winter is not a good season for warfare. For the moment, Ukraine will have to hold against the continuous Russian strikes.
