Europe scrambles to help Ukraine

Kyiv, November 25

European officials are scrambling to help Ukraine stay warm and keep functioning through the bitter winter months, pledging on Friday to send more support that will mitigate the Russian military’s efforts to turn off the heat and lights.

Aid on the way

• France is sending 100 high-powered generators to Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Friday
• Britain will provide air-defence package, valued at £50 million, to Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said

Nine months after Russia invaded its neighbour, the Kremlin’s forces have zeroed in on Ukraine’s power grid and other critical civilian infrastructure in a bid to tighten the screw on Kyiv. Officials estimate that around 50 per cent of Ukraine’s energy facilities have been damaged in the recent strikes.

She said Russia is “weaponising” winter and plunging Ukraine’s civilian population into hardship. European officials launched a scheme called “Generators of Hope” which calls on more than 200 cities across the continent to donate power generators and electricity transformers.

The generators are intended to help keep essential Ukrainian facilities running, providing power to hospitals, schools and water pumping stations, among other infrastructure.

Generators may provide only a tiny amount of the energy that Ukraine will need during the cold and dark winter months.

But the comfort and relief they provide is already evident, as winter begins in earnest and power outages occur regularly. The whine and rumble of generators is becoming commonplace, allowing stores that have them to stay open and Ukraine’s ubiquitous coffee shops to keep serving hot drinks that maintain a semblance of normality.

Ukrainian authorities are opening thousands of so-called “points of invincibility” — heated and powered spaces offering hot meals, electricity and internet connections.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late on Thursday that almost 4,400 such spaces have been opened across most of the country. — AP

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