Killing The Power In Ukraine: Putin’s Chilling Winter Strategy

We live in an electrified world and depend upon our power grids. My role as an electrician is in some ways akin to making sure that the spark of life within our cities remains fully operational. It was tough to turn on those Christmas lights in Kiev and Kherson this year. In fact, it is much more serious than that. Killing the power in Ukraine: Putin’s chilling winter strategy will likely cost the lives of lots of vulnerable folk. Children and older Ukrainians will be particularly at risk during their bitterly cold winters.

The War in Ukraine How Much Can They Endure?

In Australia, we are far, far away from the exploding bombs and missiles raining down on power stations and residential buildings in the cities of Ukraine. It is hard to even imagine what it must be like to be the target of an invading force like Russia. War is a despicable thing and tens of thousands of Ukrainians have already died from this conflict. Hitler targeted civilians during the Blitz in England during WW2. Bomber Command returned the favour tenfold with its bombing of German cities like Cologne, Hamburg and Dresden. Targeting civilians in war is now considered a war crime and there are moves to charge Russia at the ICC for these kinds of crimes in Ukraine.

Russian Missiles Taking Out The Power

Professor Timothy Snyder, a Yale University eastern European studies’ scholar, expert in the Holocaust and Stalin’s mass murders – calls Russia’s war in Ukraine a genocide. The bombing of hospitals and apartment blocks are horrendous acts of war. The rape of women and the torture of civilians in towns around Ukraine is sickening and these have already been widely documented. The forced removal of Ukrainian children to Russia has also taken place in the many thousands. Mister Putin, the Russian President, has embarked on a new strategic campaign of taking out the power grid and other essential utilities. The Russian army has been beaten back by the Ukrainian military to the recently annexed areas. In defiance of this Putin’s forces are making life as miserable for the local population as possible.

Ukrainians Cast Into Darkness & Cold

Cutting the power means no heating during the freezing winter months. It also means all the basics of life are harder to achieve like accessing water and cooking food. No electricity strips away vital information via devices dependent upon power. News is tougher to get from media sources. Keeping people in the dark both literally and metaphorically can weaken the resolve of the most hardy individuals. Imagine if your Christmas was under this kind of concerted attack and deprivation. The Russians are, as we are starting to learn, masters of disinformation and hacking. They have polished these dark arts on the Ukrainian infrastructure since 2014 and probably even earlier. Public utilities and institutions have been disabled and electronically destroyed via hacking on a large scale. The Russians and their bots played a part in getting Donald Trump elected in the US in 2016. In addition, their digital fingerprints are on the Brexit vote in favour of the UK leaving the EU. We are all a bit naive and innocent, here in the west, when it comes to the dark arts of social media manipulation impacting things like democratic elections. Most people have no idea how the internet works and just use it for social purposes. Mr and Mrs Smith in the suburbs don’t really know who they are communicating with on Facebook forums and whether they are real people or machines. Influencing public opinion via the internet is dead easy when you have a whole cyber department coordinating AI to do it. Just ask the Ukrainians about the Russians and their cyber warfare.

Light A Candle For Ukraine

Ukrainians are a religious people, more so than us, and they attend church more often than their Russian neighbours, according to Professor Timothy Snyder. Will they have enough candles to light their homes and churches this winter? I will be thinking about their struggles in the darkness and being an electrician it will gnaw away at something deep inside of me. It is tough to watch from afar when innocent people are being savaged by evil forces like the Wagner group and not be able to do much about it. The Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is begging the EU to grant $US843 million to help his people survive the brutal winter without power.

The Electrical Spark Of Life Extinguished

I suspect that they have their own electricians but I bet plenty of them are fighting in their military to keep their homeland free. In the vicious acts of killing the power in Ukraine, Putin’s chilling winter strategy will keep them all pretty busy. If we can all spare some money or warm clothes or blankets to send folks in Ukraine it will be warmly received I reckon. The current of power running through cities and homes is the life blood of the modern nation. The Russians know this, which is why their drones and missiles are blowing up the power stations. It is important to remember that we are watching a genocide and the destruction of a modern country like our own. These people are just like you and me with families and loved ones. They are cold and battered by this war, which is nearly a year old now. I will be saying a prayer or two this festive season for the folks in Kiev and Kherson and elsewhere.

I looked up at that shiny angel at the top of my Christmas tree and wonder when people are going to stop killing each other in places like Eastern Europe. We have all been through a global pandemic, where some of us lost friends and loved ones. We in Australia are having the festive season we have missed in previous years because of Covid. We are sharing good times with family and those we love. Our kids are excitedly receiving presents, probably high tech devices powered by plenty of current. Entertainment and recreation is on the menu along with lots of yummy food. Spare a thought for those a long way from such good cheer and warmth.