Ukraine faces an acute shortage of electricity after the Russian attacks

The “Kremlin” talks about the “risk” of Ukrainian attacks in Crimea

Putin delivers a speech during the awarding ceremony of the Gold Star medals for Heroes of Russia in the Kremlin.

Reuters

Yesterday, the Kremlin acknowledged the existence of a "risk" of Ukrainian attacks on its positions in Crimea, while stressing that effective countermeasures would be taken.

While Ukraine said it was facing severe electricity shortages after the Russian attacks, and warned that it would not be possible in the short term to restore power systems to their pre-war state, Germany played down the risk of a nuclear escalation in the war in Ukraine, saying it had diminished.

In detail, the Kremlin spoke yesterday of a "risk" of attacks by Ukraine on its sites in Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, after officials announced earlier that a drone had been shot down near a major Russian naval base.

The latest drone attack came in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent visit to the only bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland, to inspect repair work on this main artery after it was bombed.

"There are risks because the Ukrainian side continues to follow its line of attacks," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

But on the other hand, the information we receive indicates that effective countermeasures will be taken.

Crimea's Moscow-appointed governor, Sergei Aksyonov, said last month that Russia was building reinforcements on the peninsula following the attacks.

And the governors of two regions bordering Ukraine, appointed by Moscow, had announced that they had inspected the work of building defensive lines, days after the bombing of major military air bases by marches.

In the latest incident over Crimea, on Thursday, Russia announced that it had shot down a drone over the Black Sea near Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea, which includes a major Russian naval base.

"As usual, our army has done its job well," said the governor of the Sevastopol administrative region, Mikhail Razvogayev.

On the other hand, Ukraine imposed an emergency blackout yesterday, as it tried to repair energy infrastructure damaged by Russian air strikes, which the national grid operator said caused a major shortage of supplies.

Russia bombed energy facilities across Ukraine, the latest in a major wave of attacks on Monday.

"As of 11 am on December 8, due to damage caused by missile strikes to power stations and the high-voltage network, the system suffers from a significant shortage of electricity," Okrango, the operator of the electricity grid, said.

"In all regions, there is a power shortage of up to a third of what is needed," said Oleksandr Starukh, governor of the Zaporizhia region in southeastern Ukraine.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the population that power outages will continue across most regions of the country, although workers are racing against time to repair the damage to the electricity infrastructure caused by the Russian attacks.

In his speech on Wednesday evening, Zelensky said that the capacity to produce electricity is steadily expanding, but warned that it will not be possible in the short term to return energy systems to their pre-war state.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he saw the risk of a nuclear escalation in the war in Ukraine diminished.

"Russia has stopped threatening to use nuclear weapons," Scholz told the newspapers of the German "Fonke" media group, as well as the French newspaper "Quest France", in remarks published yesterday.

And the German chancellor continued: “During my visit to Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping and I spoke that the use of nuclear weapons would not be allowed.

Shortly thereafter, the countries of the Group of 20 (G20) confirmed this position.

Schulz appealed to Russia to end the war immediately and withdraw troops from Ukraine, and said: "It is right that the question then relates to the way in which we can achieve security for Europe."

And the German chancellor continued: «Of course we are ready to talk with Russia about arms control in Europe.

We already offered that before the war, and nothing has changed in this position.

At the same time, the German chancellor emphasized: "We are doing everything to prevent a direct war between Russia and NATO. Such a conflict will only result in losers, all over the world."

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