INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Nearly half of Kyiv residents were still without electricity on Friday as engineers battled to restore services two days after Russian
strikes hammered the country's energy grid.Systematic and targeted Russian attacks for weeks have brought Ukraine's energy
infrastructure to its knees as the country careens towards a freezing winter, spurring fears of a health crisis and a further exodus, nine
months into the war.Municipal workers struggled Friday to reconnect essential services such as heat and water as temperatures in Kyiv
approached freezing and U.K
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited to announce a new aid package."Half of consumers are still without electricity," Mayor Vitali
"A third of houses in Kyiv already have heating and specialists continue to restore it.""During the day, energy companies plan to reconnect
electricity for all consumers on an alternating basis," he wrote on Telegram.Lines of cars queued outside petrol stations in Kyiv on Friday
to stock up, AFP journalists said
Mobile networks in some areas were still experiencing disruptions.Nationwide, repair work was ongoing, said Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, head of
national electricity operator Ukrenergo, but insisted that "the most difficult stage" had passed.Ukrenergo said that producers were
providing more than 70% of the need across the country.'We live like this now'Millions of Ukrainians have endured the cold without power
situation and yes, it can happen again
But Ukraine can cope," presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on television.With gas for cooking and heating disconnected in her Kyiv
apartment, Albina Bilogub told AFP that she and her children all sleep in the same room to stay warm."In our building, very few people have
One sweater, a second, a third
We live like this now."In northern Kyiv, a vet in blue scrubs and a face mask shone a light over an operating table in a darkened clinic as
colleagues operated on an ailing dog late Thursday."We were in the middle of an operation and our lights turned off because a rocket fell
not far away, so there was a power cut," said Oleksiy Yankovenko."I had to finish the operation under the flashlights," he added.'Brutal
blackouts, saying Ukraine can end the suffering by agreeing to Russian demands.Britain's foreign minister announced new aid for Ukraine
continuing to try and break Ukrainian resolve through its brutal attacks on civilians, hospitals and energy infrastructure," Cleverly
capitulation after Moscow's forces failed to topple the government and capture Kyiv nine months after launching their invasion.Although
they have captured swathes of territory in the south and east and the Kremlin claimed to annex four regions, Ukrainian troops are clawing
back territory.Russian forces have shelled the southern city of Kherson, from which they retreated earlier this month in their latest
The Ukrainian presidency said 11 people were killed and nearly 50 injured in the Kherson region on Thursday.
