From export to suffering.. How did the Russian bombing of power stations turn Ukraine into complete darkness?

Kiev

- quickly changed the situation of rich Ukraine with about 345 different power plants, and it was - despite the war and until recently - exporting its surplus electricity needs to the European Union countries.

Since the tenth of this month, the country has lost, due to the intense Russian bombing, about 30% of its production sources, including 4 destroyed thermal plants, out of 8 in the country.

Weeks before that, the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant - the largest in Europe - stopped working and serving Ukraine, after it provided it with about 30% of its electricity need in general, and was able to provide 100% of the needs of civilians in particular.

In all, due to the war, Ukraine lost practically half of its capacity to produce electricity, according to the Ministry of Energy.

Most of the shops dimmed the lights and turned off their outdoor billboards to save electricity (Al-Jazeera)

new reality

Thus, Thursday, October 20, was the beginning of a new difficult reality imposed by the bombing of power stations in Ukraine, and forced the Ukrainians to adapt to it, even though they had not witnessed the same during the decades that followed the Second World War.

Yesterday, darkness fell on the capital, Kyiv, and many cities of the country, where the lights went out even the traffic lights, and the movement of cars became the only source of light on the roads.

In response to the calls of the presidency and energy companies, the administration of the capital announced emergency measures to provide electricity, which included reducing the movement of the subway, tram cars, and even electric elevators at the stations, while stopping 38 electric bus lines from working, and replacing them with buses that run on diesel fuel.

D-Tech Energy announced a periodic electricity blackout program in the capital's neighborhoods and streets, daily ranging between 4 and 8 hours or more, depending on the use of the network and the pressure on it.

The company called on citizens to legalize the use of electrical appliances at peak times, including ovens, water heaters, heating appliances, washing machines, and even refrigerators, TVs and internet routers.

Malls and food stores have significantly reduced the lighting inside, and completely stopped lighting their buildings and billboards from outside.

Limited alternatives

According to the websites of popular online stores in Ukraine, power generators, gas stoves and candles are among the most affected cities in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr and Dnipro.

However, these alternatives appear to be very limited, due to the fact that they are quickly depleted in light of very limited import operations due to the war, and their inability to fully compensate for the consumer need.

Added to this is the fact that the mobile phone network and the Internet are gradually weakening until they vanish after the power outage, without any other means being able to compensate for it.

Here, some residents are talking about the possibility of resorting to living in villages, as the worst options if available at all, away from electricity cuts, where they can rely on firewood for heating, and rivers for drinking.

Anatoly, a resident of the capital, Kyiv, told Al Jazeera Net, "Officials are hinting that the Ukrainians will have to prepare for weeks or even months of interruptions in electricity and even water supplies. So city life will not be possible soon, and we will resort to village life as our ancestors did during World War II."

Russian bombing targeted several electric power plants in Kyiv (Al-Jazeera)

sarcastic jokes

With this pessimistic prediction, Ukrainians seem to be resorting to humor to relieve themselves, and making jokes about Russians' plans to break their bones, they say.

To Al Jazeera Net, Ms. Anastasia, one of the workers in a food store in Kiev, said: "They want to keep the Ukrainians without electricity. They are stupid (the Russians), without electricity the men will devote themselves to their husbands, and after 9 months Ukrainian women will give birth to at least one million children from Bandera's grandchildren to fight The Russians in the future," referring to the figure of Stepan Bandera, the leader of the national liberation movement in the middle of the last century, whom Russia considers - even today - a symbol of all Ukrainians hostile to it.