LET'S NOT FORGET...
A satellite image of Europe shows the extent to which Ukraine is suffering from energy blackouts, in comparison to other countries, following intense missile strikes from Russia.
Satellite view of Ukraine at night
The image, which indicates the night radiance of Europe from space, clearly shows Moscow strongly lit up, with surrounding countries such as Belarus, Lithuania and Estonia also radiating a varying degree of light.
In stark contrast, Ukraine is seen mainly in darkness on the satellite image, a direct effect of the recent bombardment of missile strikes from Russia, that left tens of millions without power and water.
Strikes on Wednesday targeted critical infrastructure killing 10 and causing widespread power outages across the country, as well as more than half of neighbouring Moldova.
Ukraine's energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, said that "the vast majority of electricity consumers were cut off".
Nuclear power plants, including reactors at Ukraine's Pivdennoukrainsk plant in the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk, south of Kyiv, were forced to shut down and emergency blackouts were necessary for other regions to help conserve energy and carry out urgent repairs.
"In one to two days, nuclear power plants will reach their normal scheduled capacity, and we expect that it will be possible to transfer our consumers to a planned shutdown (regime) instead of emergency (blackouts)," Ukrenergo chief executive Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said on Ukrainian TV on Friday.
In a recent update, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said a third of houses now have heating, but half of the residents remain without electricity.
Authorities have been racing to return supplies to the capital, which has a population of three million, but residents have been reduced to queuing up for water or collecting it from drainpipes.
Lviv mayor Andriy Sadoviy tweeted on Wednesday that the "whole city is without light" and there could also be interruptions with the water supply.
During the blackout, Ukraine's health ministry said that nine organ transplants from posthumous donors were carried out within 30 hours.
As of Friday morning, the regional governor of Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, said that all residents had had their electricity supplies restored, but more than 100,000 in the outlying region continued to experience interruptions. Whereas in the south, authorities in the city of Mykolayiv said that running water was set to start flowing again after supplies were cut off by Russian strikes on Thursday.
French foreign minister Catherine Colonna said France is sending 100 high-powered generators to Ukraine whereas British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who arrived in Kyiv on a visit, promised a £50m air-defence package to help defend against Russia's bombardments.
Kherson struck by Russian missiles.
Emergency vehicles including 24 ambulances, some of them armored, are included within the package.
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On this last day of November, LET’S NOT FORGET the darkness that Putin has brought to Ukraine. At night, through a satellite image we see the difference between the radiance of Europe, the brightness in Moscow and varying degrees of light in the surrounding countries against the black of night over Ukraine.
The ‘…recent bombardment of missile strikes from Russia left millions of Ukrainians without power and water.’ (TC)
I stayed with that satellite image absorbing the darkness that evil doers can cast over the rest of humanity. We, too, are facing the darkness if we do not pull together.
The Ukrainians are now regaining their light, heat and water with help in the form of high-powered generators, an air-defense package and ambulances on the way.
LET’S NOT FORGET the power of darkness and the power of light.
I "liked" this piece but I hate this reality.