Many Ukrainians without power after deadly Russian strikes

By Stefan J. Bos

Ukrainian soldiers are struggling to slow Russian advances on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine, including here, west of the devastated city of Avdiivka.

Their troubles have been linked to shortages in weapons and manpower.

“Ammunition is our sore spot,” said soldier Odin. “We have a constant shortage. For example, last spring in this area, the situation with ammunition was much better.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has already warned that his country could lose the war if it does not get more U.S. military aid.

The U.S. House speaker is negotiating with the White House on advancing wartime funding for Ukraine amid political wrangling over a $95 billion foreign security package for the wartorn country.

In addition, Ukraine’s parliament was forced to adopt a mobilization law to increase the number of men on the battlefields in a war against Russia that had already killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people.

The bill accepted Thursday would oblige Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 years of age to effectively battle against Russian strikes and other aggression.

Russian attacks

Ukrainian President Zelensky was due to sign the legislation approved Thursday after expressing concern about increased Russian attacks.

In one of the latest strikes, a Russian drone reportedly damaged equipment at a substation in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast overnight, cutting power to several households and individual consumers.

The attack came after officials said Russian missiles and drones destroyed a large electricity plant near Kyiv and hit power facilities in several regions of Ukraine.

Ukrainian energy operator Ukrenergo said 399 settlements were without power as of Friday morning, with a blackout in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Kherson oblasts.

As frustration over the war mounted, Ukrainian authorities searched for a high-ranking priest of a Moscow-linked church.

Well-informed sources said the premises of Archpriest Mykola Danylevych, a senior member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, were searched by the security service of Ukraine.

Kyiv has accused the church of supporting Russia’s invasion, but critics say this kind of search increases religious tensions.

A search was also underway in Russian-occupied parts of eastern Ukraine, where an American, Russell Bentley, supporting Russian separatists, reportedly disappeared.

Amid the tensions, Western officials say thousands of Russian troops have tried to seek asylum in Western countries, but relatively few have been granted refugee status.