Michael Weiss and James Rushton report:

Large parts of the Ukrainian capital have been experiencing rolling blackouts in recent weeks, after increased Russian attacks over the past month that have destroyed an estimated 30% of Ukraine’s power and heating generation capacity.

Kyiv has accused Russia, which continues to suffer a string of embarrassing setbacks on the battlefield, of pursuing a determined strategy of targeting such facilities in order both to increase Ukrainian refugee flows into Europe and to freeze the population at home into submission.

Ukraine’s power stations and electricity distribution network have also been heavily bombed in the past few weeks. On Oct. 22, a thermal power station in Lutsk, in Ukraine’s northwest, was hit by three Russian cruise missiles, according to the city’s mayor, Ihor Polishchuk, leading to critical damage.

“In fact, it is destroyed,” Polishchuk told Yahoo News. “Currently, it is impossible to restore it.”

Rolling blackouts have been part of the Ukrainian government’s response to reduce power consumption. President Volodymyr Zelensky has also been appealing to citizens to lower their daily electricity usage as part of their patriotic duty toward the war effort. [Continue reading…]