The people of Kiev complained about the catastrophe with electricity

“Color” adds creeping mobilization

The New Year holidays have come to an end, and emergency blackouts have resumed in the capital of Ukraine. This happened due to the increase in electricity consumption against the background of the January cold weather. An employee of a kindergarten from Kyiv told MK about how it is now living in a cold city without heating.

When restoring energy facilities, Ukraine is now experiencing a shortage of Soviet-style equipment, among which the lack of transformers with a capacity of 750 kV and weighing up to 200 tons each is especially felt. According to the head of NPC Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytsky, a significant part of Nezalezhnaya’s power grids still uses the old Soviet system, which is incompatible with Western equipment. And this means that emergency shutdowns will continue in Ukraine for a long time.

And in Kyiv, after the New Year, prices for food and travel increased. “For many in the city, and for me personally, going to the store causes depression,” complains a local resident, Evgeny. – Since the beginning of the conflict, if you count, prices have probably doubled, and recently this is especially true because of dealers who have significantly increased their appetites. For example, they break the price of generators.”

For those Kyivans who cannot afford to buy food in stores, the city authorities are distributing humanitarian aid. But its number, according to residents of the city, is very small. They give out flour, cereals and buckwheat. Products are delivered to stores regularly, but not everyone has enough money to buy them.

The weather at the same time does not spare the people of Kiev. The temperature drops to -8 at night, in addition to this, sleet and wind await the Ukrainians. Sitting in a cold apartment at home without light in such weather is especially uncomfortable. Yes, and in urban buildings and shops, generators work at the limit. Some don’t even last. An explosion occurred in the Buchansky district of the city today. But this was not another “arrival”: just a generator exploded in the Two Doors store. It’s good that he was in the basement, so there were no casualties…

“It’s freezing in Kyiv now, and freezing rain is also promised,” the head of one of the Kyiv kindergartens shared with MK. – Although on New Year’s Eve the temperature was above zero and everything was swimming. Due to interruptions in electricity and heat in the apartments, both I and my wards are constantly sick. Parents send their children in a semi-ill state, they come in snot, infect each other and educators. In our building, at least there is heat due to the generators in the basement bomb shelter, which have been standing there since the times of the USSR. But they make a lot of noise.”

– How are the jobs?

– People are fired, laid off, and this is especially true for private companies. Restaurants and hotels have closed and continue to close – the tourism business has sunk. Many men quit themselves, because it is easier to avoid being drafted and sent to the front.

It is indeed unsafe for men in Kyiv to be on the street now. “People are stopped on the streets, they are searched, their phones are checked,” one of the Kyivans said on the social network. – And we also know that the police and the SBU listen to all telephone conversations. Because of the new mobilization measures, the authorities show increased interest in men: they guard the guys on the streets, in crowded places, go from apartment to apartment. It is especially difficult for young people now, whoever can – they are sitting at home.