Ukraine continues to suffer as power cut for days due to ongoing Russian attacks

In an update from Ukraine, the top UN aid official in that country, Under-Secretary-General Matthias Schmale, reports that half the population of the city of Kherson, around 30,000 or more, has been without power for several days.

It’s not the only city without electricity, he told UN News on Wednesday, during a mission to southern Ukraine:

“The big challenge is how to support people if the electricity is out for several days, say more than a week in a row, as is currently the case in Odessa,” he said.

Lasting damage

“The authorities are pretty confident they can manage a few hours or even a few days at a time. But more than a week will be very difficult.”

The Humanitarian Coordinator said one solution to the energy crisis was to ensure that schools and health centers were equipped with generators and enough fuel, “so that people can gather there, in a crisis and if necessary for several days at a time”.

Mr. Schmale was on Wednesday in the front-line town of Kherson, located directly across the Dnipro River from lands occupied by Russian invaders in southern Ukraine.

There, he met civilians at a UN humanitarian center who had come to seek aid. A woman who works at a power plant said she was very afraid of being targeted at work.

“Almost everything was destroyed”

She said there were five houses left on her street where people still live and “almost everything was destroyed.”

“I don’t even think about it. My house, my dogs, my cats. The neighbors left after their houses were hit. They left their dogs for a week. They’ve been gone for three years now.”

Another woman met by humanitarian coordinator Schmale said she came from the Kherson Island district and lived without gas for heating or cooking. His mother died in hospital 10 days ago following a landmine accident.

Six months earlier, her husband died while using public transport in Mykolaiv, during a drone attack.

She began to cry as she remembered all the people she had lost and she feared that it would not be possible for her to return home.

“I would rather smile than cry”

“Kherson used to be a very industrial city, but this is no longer the case,” said another retiree. When she was young, she worked building weather instruments for ships.

Mr Schmale praised her for her great sense of humor in the face of adversity. “I’d rather smile than cry. I’ve already had a lot of time to cry,” she replied.

“I just want to go home and die there,” she added poignantly.