NAfter the targeted Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power grid, the situation in the port city of Odessa and in other regions is difficult, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyj. Despite ongoing heavy fighting, the course of the front remains unchanged. According to the Ukrainian defense minister, this will be changed with a counter-offensive as soon as the ground is frozen enough to support wheeled and tracked vehicles.
Zelenskyj: Do everything to ease the situation
Efforts to repair the severely damaged power grid in and around Odessa continue. “We are doing everything we can to restore the light in Odessa,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Sunday evening. “We’re doing everything we can to get the maximum out of the Russian goals under these conditions.”
Russian troops attacked Odessa on Saturday night with a wave of Iranian combat drones, causing the city and the entire surrounding area to lose power. According to the official statement, the power outage, which affects several hundred thousand people, can only be repaired with great effort. The regional electric utility said repairs could take two to three months.
“Kiev and its environs, Lviv region, Vinnytsia region, Ternopil region, Chernovyts region and Zakarpattia region, Sumy region, Dnipropetrovsk region – the situation remains very difficult,” said Zelenskyy. However, everything is being tried to “relax the situation” and to provide people with electricity.
The Russian military has been targeting the energy infrastructure for several weeks, causing massive outages in the power and water supply. This tactic is intended to put the population under pressure, especially during the cold winter months.
Ukrainian defense minister announces counter-offensives in the near future
According to the defense minister, the Ukrainian armed forces will resume their counter-offensive against the Russian occupiers if the weather conditions are favourable. The current transition “from dry autumn to not yet frosty winter” does not offer favorable operating conditions for either wheeled or tracked vehicles,” said Minister Oleksiy Resnikov on Sunday at a meeting with his Swedish colleague Pål Jonson in Odessa. “I think the (current) drop in activity on the front lines is due to the weather.”
“But the Ukrainian armed forces are not thinking about stopping,” Reznikov said. Rather, they wanted to use the moment when the ground becomes more solid due to frost to continue their counterattacks. Ukraine’s plan is “very simple,” stressed Reznikov. The goal is the liberation of all temporarily occupied areas and the restoration of internationally recognized borders after independence in 1991.
