Zelenskyy: Struggling with sudden power cut – night update without photos Beijing closes restaurants – city imposes further corona restrictions

Zelenskyj: Struggling with sudden power outages

Ukraine’s power grid, which was heavily damaged by Russian missile strikes, is likely to remain extremely sensitive to disruptions in the coming months. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country was struggling not only with planned closures but also with sudden power outages on Monday. Consumption is greater than electricity production, everyone has to save energy. Electricity supplier Yasno said Ukrainians should expect outages or closures at least until the end of March.

Heavy fighting in Donbass

Regarding the fighting in the Donbass, the Ukrainian General Staff announced that Russia was concentrating its attacks on the cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. In other places, the General Staff spoke of an “active defense” of the Russian troops – so apparently the Ukrainians are attacking there. The places of Kupjansk and Lyman, as well as Novopavliwka and the front in the Zaporizhia region were mentioned. The Russian troops fought back with tanks, mortars, barrel and rocket artillery, it was said.

According to the official report, Russian troops in southern Ukraine are strengthening their defense lines on the southern bank of the Dnipro River. According to unofficial information, the Ukrainian artillery fired their long-range guns in this area in the direction of Crimea. Russian military bloggers reported on a successful Russian advance on the town of Marjinka near Donetsk. The Ukrainian city of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region was hit by several Russian rocket launchers on Monday evening, local authorities said.

Memories of protest on Maidan nine years ago

In his video address on Monday, Zelensky recalled the beginning of the pro-European demonstrations in Kiev’s Independence Square, the Maidan, nine years ago on November 21, 2013. In February 2014, the protest led to the fall of the pro-Russian government. However, Moscow used Ukraine’s weakness to annex the Crimean peninsula and a little later to start the war in eastern Ukraine.

Freedom and dignity of the Ukrainian people are more than a thousand years old, Zelenskyy said. The people have survived many threats to their freedom and existence. “And now we have a historic opportunity to protect Ukrainian freedom once and for all,” he said, referring to the hoped-for victory over the Russian attackers.

Selenskyj calls on compatriots to save electricity

Due to the lack of electricity in the Ukrainian power grid, Zelensky turned to the regional and municipal administrations: they must continue to encourage citizens to save electricity. Electricity must also be saved in public areas. “Tonight the situation in Kiev and its surroundings, as well as in Vinnytsia, Sumy, Ternopil, Cherkasy, Odessa and some other cities and districts, is particularly difficult,” Zelenskyy said.

“The systemic damage to our energy sector from the Russian terror attacks is so great that all our citizens and businesses have to be very economical and spread consumption over the hours of the day,” he said. Since mid-October, Russia has been destroying Ukraine’s energy system with missile attacks, in violation of international law. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the government of the neighboring country should be forced to the negotiating table.

Power engineers are doing their best to repair damage to the power grid before winter sets in, Yasno power company boss Serhiy Kovalenko wrote on Facebook. “Even if there are fewer outages now, I want everyone to understand: Ukrainians will probably have to live with outages at least until the end of March,” he wrote. The network operator Ukrenergo announced planned closures across the country for Tuesday.

IAEA: Nuclear fuels in Zaporizhia are safely stored

There are no immediate concerns about the nuclear safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, said Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Four IAEA experts had checked the largest European nuclear power plant. The status of the six reactor units is stable. The integrity of the spent fuel, fresh fuel and low, intermediate and high level radioactive waste in their storage facilities has been confirmed.

Nevertheless, the experts had found damage in many places on the site. “This is of great concern because it highlights the sheer intensity of the attack on one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants,” said Grossi. The nuclear power plant was startled by dozens of grenade hits on Saturday and Sunday. The facility had also come under fire in the months before. Ukraine and Russia blame each other for this.

Current developments also in the live ticker:

That will be important on Tuesday

Russia’s parliament, the Duma in Moscow, plans to condemn Tuesday the shooting of Russian soldiers captured by Ukrainian soldiers. Parliaments of other countries should be asked to join. The incident, documented by video, is said to have occurred in mid-November when Ukraine recaptured the town of Makiivka in the Luhansk Oblast in the east of the country. According to Ukrainian sources, a Russian opened fire instead of surrendering. The Ukrainians therefore shot Russians who were already on the ground in self-defense. The UN Human Rights Office has announced an investigation. (sda/dpa)