Decorative candles, which Yaroslav Vedmid bought at least a year ago and did not plan to use, are now lit almost every night due to constant power outages across the country. Ukraine.

Moscow has announced its intention to strike at the country’s energy infrastructure and bring it to a cold and dark winter.

“When you rely on electricity, the worst thing is that you can’t plan…,” said Vedmid, 44, a business owner in Belogorodka, a suburb of Kyiv. Holidays are getting longer – they reach almost 12 hours a day, he emphasizes.

To date, Russia has destroyed almost 40 percent of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, affecting 16 regions, according to the Ukrainian government.

The latest attack came on Monday, when Russian missiles and drones hit Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities, depriving them of potable water and electricity. 80% of Kiev – city ​​with a population of 3 million – was left without drinking water after a blow to an electrical installation.

In the Ukrainian capital, electricity and water supply have been largely restored. The governor of the Kyiv region Oleksiy Kuleba said that 20,000 apartments in the region were left without electricity.

Power outages are on the rise as the government attempts to repair the power grid before winter. Power outages are causing anxiety and uncertainty among residents who have already survived nine months of war.

For their part, the energy companies are announcing a daily schedule that outlines when and which neighborhoods will go without power. However, this is not always carried out as strikes escalate from Russia.

Last week, a power plant in the city center was damaged. The government has warned citizens about prolonged power outages. “Unfortunately, the damage is serious,” Aleksey Kuleba wrote on Telegram. “We need to prepare for emergency power outages. he added.

In the capital, residents stock up on heaters, blankets, warm clothing and portable chargers. While most say they are willing to live with power outages for the sake of war, their frequency and duration takes a toll on their psychology.

Today, the government announced that it plans to change the schedule of the Kyiv metro to save energy through less frequent routes.

When the Associated Press visited Yaroslav Vedmid’s home in October, there was an unplanned five-hour power outage, and then a planned one during dinner.

At every break, family members do not have access to the Internet, and due to a weak telephone network, they often cannot contact friends and acquaintances.

Whedmead’s biggest concern is in the coming months, when temperatures could drop as low as -20 degrees Celsius. “My biggest fear of winter is the cold. At the moment it affects our comfort, but does not threaten our lives,” he says.

The family ordered a generator, which they had to install by December. However, the price of oil has doubled since the start of the war, locals say.

Russia’s plan for the winter

“The main risk (to the energy system) is continuous rocket attacks,” says Professor Gennady Ryabtsev, an energy security researcher at the National Institute for Strategic Studies. He added that residents of front-line cities such as Nikolaev, Zaporozhye and Kharkiv will suffer the most from power outages.

Russia is likely to continue the war into winter, hoping to dampen Western support for Ukraine and “freeze Europe,” according to a report released this week by the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War.

Residents of front-line cities expect worsening conditions.

According to the AP