While the Russian rockets continues to attack In Ukraine, Ukrainians are melting themselves for winter without light and heat.
At the same time, one of President Zelensky’s advisers is asking for help to survive the winter in Oslo.
– In this situation, we need equipment to help Ukrainians survive, says Sergej Leschenko to NRK.
He is specifically asking for power generators and other aid to help keep Ukrainians warm during power outages.
Recently, Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko warned about this “Worst Winter Since World War II” Due to destruction of power grid.
On Thursday, Klitschko wrote on Telegram that 70 percent of the Ukrainian capital was still without power after the Russian attacks.
On Friday evening, President Zelensky says more than six million homes are without electricity in Ukraine.
Odin Johannesen, former head of the army, tells NRK that Ukraine needs strong citizens this winter.
– A well-functioning Ukrainian civil society behind the military forces. Johannesen says it is a community that supports forces in their fight against occupiers.
Such was the case in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv after Wednesday’s Russian rocket attack.
Photo: STRINGER / Reuters
– Almost unlivable conditions
In Ukraine, aid workers from the Norwegian Refugee Council are also working to help people in the war-torn country.
Norwegian Refugee Council Secretary General Jan Egeland is in Kyiv and met political leadership in the city on Friday.
– They say there are almost unlivable conditions in large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, Egeland tells NRK.
He adds:
– I have visited many of these areas and can agree with that assessment.
Egeland says authorities are preparing to evacuate half a million new refugees westward from these areas in the south and east of Ukraine.
Residents of the city of Lviv, western Ukraine, sit in a dark cafe during a planned blackout due to unstable electricity.
Photo: Yuri Tyachishin / AFP
– What worries authorities today when it comes to the refugee situation?
– They cannot have electricity, heat and running water for large parts of the country.
The veteran assistant manager, who has seen many international crises, says he visited villages in eastern Ukraine without electricity or heating options.
– I saw old people. Many were lying in beds in destroyed houses, Egeland says.
– Here in Kiev there is electricity now. But the power disappears in an instant.
The port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine was also blacked out on Wednesday after a Russian rocket attack.
Also demands air defense
In an interview with NRK, adviser Sergej Leschenko repeated Ukraine’s request to the international community for – more weapons and not least – air defense.
– Leshenko says it could use our own energy infrastructure instead of replacing what Putin destroys.
Leshenko regularly works on trains in Ukraine and says the railway has asked Norwegian authorities for help.
Ukrainian authorities are creating their own spaces on the railway network where people can come and hug themselves, he says.
– Here they can, among other things, heat and charge mobile phones, says the consultant.
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