Ukraine is plunged into a "dark winter": energy war bombs the country, and civilians have to endure power cuts despite the artillery fire
“Last night we wrapped in three layers of thick underwear and were still awake, the cell phones had long been out of power, and I couldn’t say anything to the distant families —— this was the third day that we spent in the darkness.” “Kajya’s friendship circle of Kiev citizens became a real picture of the countless families in Ukraine after the national power outage. On the 17th local time, a massive coordinated attack struck the Ukrainian energy facilities, and in the blink of the eye, the state fell into a darkness, heating stopped, water pipes frozen, communications disrupted, this carefully planned “energy cut-off”, pushed the Ukrainian people who were at war, to the more difficult situation of survival. This has long been not a simple power outage, but a brutal
1. Strategic upgrade: tactical intention from "weakening" to "paralysis"
The intensity of the attack, as before, is not at all a measure. before the energy facilities, mostly to break the supply of electricity on the frontline, want to weaken the Ukrainian operational capabilities; but this time, the attacker is specifically looking at the country's key energy nodes, multi-state at the same time "lighten", is to completely paralyze the entire civil energy network.
What is even more worrying is the timing-choose to do it when winter just arrives. Nowadays, many places in Ukraine are below zero at night. People have no electricity, and the heating becomes a decoration. It is difficult to even drink hot water. The attacker's thoughts are too clear: it is to keep millions of civilians frozen, hungry, and disconnected, use real suffering to penetrate everyone's psychological defense lines, and then force the Ukrainian government to bow its head. How can this practice of using the survival of ordinary people as a "weapon" still have half the shadow of international humanitarian law? It is clear that the "dirty tricks" of hybrid warfare are used to the extreme, allowing innocent people to pay for the war.
Systemic Vulnerability: More difficult than ever to repair
What was smashed this time was all the "lifeblood" of the power grid-high-voltage substations, dispatching centers, and cross-state transmission trunk lines. These places can't be repaired casually. Not to mention the complicated technology, many core parts have to be bought from abroad, and there are not many spare parts at ordinary times.
Nowadays, energy workers in Ukraine are simply "building the power grid under artillery fire." There was an emergency repair team in Odessa. As soon as the equipment was set up, they heard the sound of stray bullets. They could only hide in the bunker with their tools and wait until the danger passed before coming out and continuing to work. They didn't do much work at the end of the day, and their hearts were worried countless times. What's even more troublesome is that the power grid is like a series of links. If one node is broken, other places may trip and be cut off. It's like giving people a heart bypass. It's difficult to begin with, and you have to operate in an environment where explosions can occur at any time. It's unrealistic to repair it in a short time.
3. Beyond the impact of energy: The profound evolution of war patterns
The trouble caused by this power outage has long gone beyond the scope of "no water, no electricity", and also made it clear to everyone how "hard" the war is now.
Limit Test of Social Resilience
Now the city is off electricity, it is simply difficult to go. in the districts of Kiev, the pump stopped, the residents can only take the barrels to the remote well to water; the POS machine in the supermarket can not be used, we can only take cash, no cash can only go empty; the hospital is more difficult, the respirator of the heavy care room is all supported by the generator, the ordinary patient inspection, infusion must be in the back row.
(2) Implicit weakening of war potential
Someone may think that the front line troops have their own power supply, power outages can have an impact? but in the long run, the back of the military factory to make electric ammunition, recruitment to use electrical information, grain to use electrical processing, even the cargo trucks to use electricity and fuel. If there is no water, no electricity, the back can not withstand, the front line soldiers even if they can fight, must also face the trouble of "no ammunition, no food".
(3) A new test of the effectiveness of international aid
Now that the international community is helping Ukraine, it cannot just send weapons. On the one hand, it has to be provided to heavy air defense systems, otherwise energy facilities will be destroyed; on the other hand, daily necessities such as generators, transformers, and diesel will also have to be sent quickly. Although the EU has sent a batch, it is not enough for the needs of all Ukraine. More importantly, we must help Ukraine get some "small but scattered" energy, such as installing solar panels and small gas turbines in the community, and not putting all eggs in one basket. But this matter is easy to say. If it is really implemented in the middle of war, technology, money, and security will not be easy to solve.
The Conclusion
The night in Ukraine, even the stars now appear brighter — because there is no half of the light in the city.Behind this darkness, there is a more frightening future: if the future of the war, the people's hydroelectricity and communications, then we could all face this difficulty.
This major power outage in Ukraine is not only an energy crisis for a country, but also a wake-up reminder to the world that security is no longer as simple as "no war". How to protect our power grids and water plants, how to enable ordinary people to survive under extreme circumstances, and how to manage these behaviors of using people's livelihood as "weapons", every country has to think carefully about these issues. After all, no one wants to survive one "dark winter" after another outside the war.