"At about two this morning, the familiar howl of air-raid sirens woke me in the center of Kyiv, followed by the low thuds of anti-aircraft cannons attempting to shoot down Russian drones. The news alerts followed, citing the city's mayor: Russian strikes had left more than 1,000 apartment buildings without power and heat as temperatures fell below zero degrees Fahrenheit."
"Vladimir Putin was not going to miss his chance to use winter as a weapon. In recent weeks, Russian missile strikes have hammered the power grid and neighborhood heating systems, leaving both on the verge of collapse. Last week, President Trump appealed to Putin to pause these attacks for a week, long enough for the cold snap to pass and peace talks to move forward."
"No one I met in Kyiv over the past few days expected anything different. As the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches the four-year mark this month, Putin's strategy has shifted to one that stands in blatant violation of the international laws of war, which prohibit the bombing of civilian infrastructure. Ukrainians aptly call it "energy terror," and its goal is to freeze them into a state of hopelessness and soften them up for capitulation."
Air-raid sirens and anti-aircraft fire punctuate nights in Kyiv as Russian drone and missile strikes target energy infrastructure, leaving over 1,000 apartment buildings without power and heat amid subzero temperatures. The strikes have battered the power grid and neighborhood heating systems, driving them toward collapse and prompting accusations of "energy terror" aimed at freezing civilians into hopelessness and capitulation. An attempted pause for talks was briefly signaled but followed by a severe attack on Ukraine's energy network. Ukrainian leadership seeks peace with firm U.S. and allied guarantees, while civilians show defiance amid growing exhaustion.
Read at The Atlantic
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