Satellite photos show lack of electricity in Ukraine

After Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure this week, the country is hurrying to restore power to citizens’ homes, but adverse weather in the form of sub-zero temperatures, rain and wind are hampering efforts, officials say.

Millions of Ukrainians are being “plunged into extreme hardship and appalling conditions of life” due to this, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk warned Friday.

Here are more of the headlines:

Half of Kyiv remains without power: Some 50% of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was without power on Friday morning following the Russian strikes, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Water has been fully restored and emergency crews are working fast to restore heat to the city, the Kyiv city military administration said.

Electricity deficit: Although power has been restored to critical infrastructure across Ukraine’s regions, efforts to restore electricity to household consumers have been slowed, according to national energy supply company Ukrenergo. There is still a deficit of electricity, and consumers will lose access to power at times under “planned and emergency consumption restriction schedules,” the company said Friday.

Russian shelling reported near Zaporizhzhia and Nikopol: Russia struck the outskirts of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia overnight into Friday, Oleksandr Starukh, head of the local regional military administration, said on Telegram Friday, while the Dnipropetrovsk region, across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, also reported shelling. 

UN watchdog providing support to four more Ukraine nuclear plants: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has started providing onsite support to four more Ukrainian nuclear power plants – Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, South Ukraine, and Chornobyl – in response to a request from the country, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a video statement on Thursday.

Following the strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the operational nuclear power plants of Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, South Ukraine and Khmelnytskyi were disconnected from the grid and “forced to rely on emergency diesel generators for the electricity they needed to ensure their continued safety and security,” Grossi said.

NATO “will not back down” on support for Ukraine: NATO will not reduce its support for Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Friday.

Stoltenberg said foreign ministers are providing “unprecedented military support” and he expects they will agree to step up “non-lethal support,” at the Bucharest meeting.