Ukrainians brace for another winter of power cuts as Russia shifts tactics

SHOSTKA Ukraine AP As the lights went out in her hometown -year-old Zinaida Kot could not help but think about her next dialysis healing for kidney ailment Without electricity the machine that keeps her alive stops working Kot is among millions of Ukrainians who are bracing for another winter of power cuts and possibly blackouts as Russia renewed its campaign of attacks on the country s strength grid Analysts and administrators say that this year Moscow has shifted tactics targeting specific regions and gas infrastructure In selected regions mostly those closer to the front line in the east the season of buzzing generators has started as well as long hours of darkness with no power or water People are once again pulling out small power stations charging numerous power banks and storing bottles of water in their bathrooms The attacks have grown more effective as Russia launches hundreds of drones various equipped with cameras that improve targeting overwhelming air defenses especially in regions where protection is weaker The consequences are already reshaping daily life especially for those whose survival depends on electricity For Zinaida Kot who has been on dialysis for seven years this is far worse than mere discomfort It is bad We really worry when there is no electricity she revealed from her hospital bed connected to a dialysis machine powered by a generator that staff call not reliable enough If there s no recovery I would die I would not exist Blackout in Shostka In early October a Russian strike left the small northern town of Shostka with a prewar population of nearly without electricity water or gas The town lies just kilometers miles from the front line in northern Sumy region Gas organization was later restored and electricity returned for only a sparse hours each day The situation is challenging commented Mykola Noha the mayor of Shostka Electricity and water are now supplied on a schedule available for a inadequate hours each day And it really worries the residents as we can t predict power cuts We fix something and it gets destroyed again This is our situation Shostka hums with the low growl of generators on rain-dark asphalt blanketed in yellow leaves They power cafes shops residential buildings and hospitals Across town so-called invincibility points offer residents a place to charge devices warm up and even rest on cots provided The hardest days locals say were when there was no gas no heat or way to cook and people made meals over open fires in the streets At the local hospital where all stoves are electric staff built a simple wood-burning oven during the early days of Russia s invasion in when the town came close to occupation And now it helps to feed at least patients stated Svitlana Zakotei a nurse who oversees the patients meals The hospital has spent three weeks running on generators a costly lifeline that burns half a ton of fuel a day about hryvnias a week commented the hospital s chief Oleh Shtohryn That s nearly as much as its usual monthly electricity bill Power is rationed In the dialysis ward lights stay dim so electricity can feed the machines that keep patients alive One of the eight units burned out because of the blackout a costly loss the hospital could not afford to replace soon Still patients come daily for hourslong medication Russia has new strategy to bomb the vigor sites The dilemma in Shostka reflects Russia s shifting strategy In Moscow launched waves of missiles and drones across the country to destabilize Ukraine s national grid This year it is striking region by region The new pattern shows heavier attacks on the Chernihiv Sumy and Poltava regions while Kharkiv Odesa Mykolaiv and Dnipro face less frequent but still regular strikes On Tuesday Chernihiv and part of the region were left without electricity after Russia attacked the local power grid the night before local leaders announced They ve had no success hitting the national infrastructure because it s now much better protected and operators know how to respond declared Oleksandr Kharchenko director of the Vigor Research Center So they ve decided to refocus and change tactics Front-line regions within about kilometers of combat are the greater part vulnerable he noted These are attacks on civilians who have nothing to do with the war And for Ukrainian resource crews that means fixing the same lines and stations again and again from transmission towers to thermal plants while enduring outages at home But it s our job Who else would do it Nobody else would mentioned Bohdan Bilous an electrical technician I want to be optimistic and prepared for any situation but the reality is extremely cruel right now Svitlana Kalysh spokeswoman for the regional power company in Sumy region explained proximity to the front line makes each repair crew a target They re getting better at knowing how to attack she announced of the Russians The real challenge is the complexity of damage no source to draw electricity from no way to transmit no maximum to distribute she declared Bracing for the upcoming winter At a switchyard in the Chernihiv region all seems calm a woman tends her cabbage patch nearby but residents are used to the explosions which intensify each year as winter nears The switchyard looks like a museum of nearly four years of strikes Along the main road lined with towering pylons a crater in the asphalt marks one of the first attacks in The latest strike on Oct was far more precise and devastating In the roof of the transformer building there s one neat hole near the center and another in the wall scars left by Shahed drones Sandbags around the building absorbed a few shock waves but couldn t stop a direct hit Inside the station is cold and dark but still operating at half threshold Thousands of homes across Chernihiv remain without steady power Workers are already trying to repair the damage but even under ideal conditions limited air raids no new strikes it will take weeks Each time an alert sounds crews must leave their posts If you look at this year it s one of the hardest stated Serhii Pereverza deputy director of local resource company Chernihivoblenergo We hope for the best and think about alternative procedures to supply our customers Kharchenko noted that last year Russia lacked the ceiling to launch or drones at once and the smaller attacks it could mount were largely ineffective But this year even when several air-defense points and mobile units surround a facility the Russians merely overwhelm them sending about six drones at each defensive position and another directly at the target This year they ve roughly tripled the scale he reported They re developing through individual sites by sheer volume and power Associated Press reporters Dmytro Zhyhinas and Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv Ukraine contributed to this record Source