Ukraine war: ‘Living in a nightmare’ – Kyiv families without water or electricity in suffering ‘worse than WWII’
In the flicker of candlelight, a 91-year-old grandmother says she is scared as night falls, plunging her apartment block in Kyiv once more into darkness.
Anna Abrosimova fell over during a blackout this week, hurting her legs. She is too frail to move somewhere safer.
“I am living in a nightmare,” she said, standing in the hallway of her neat, tidy, first-floor flat.
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Russian missile strikes against Ukraine‘s power and water supplies have turned people’s homes, like hers, into a new frontline as Vladimir Putin tries to crush their will to resist.
But Anna, who lives with her adult granddaughter, said she is determined to survive.
She has stored bottles of water in her hallway and wrapped pots of soup up in blankets to keep them warm.
Power cuts have increased in frequency in recent weeks
Standing next to a wall decoration that says in English “Love – Happy – Joy”, she said: “I urgently want to live to see the victory and to see how it’s all over.
“But it is almost one year since that bandit [Putin] started a war against us. Does he have no shame?”
She said her husband of 59 years, who died more than a decade ago, was Russian.
“We [Ukraine and Russia] used to be together [in the Soviet Union]… Putin came to power and what is he doing now? He wants Ukraine. We will not allow him. If I was younger, I would go and fight.”
Ukraine by night from NASA. Pic: NASA WORLDVIEW/Reuters
‘Worse than Hitler’
Anna said the suffering unleashed by Russia’s invasion was even harsher than the horrors her country endured during the Second World War, when she was a child.
“They are worse than Hitler. Hitler – God forgive me for saying this – was a stranger but they [the Russians] are like our own people,” she said.
“In the Second World War it was hard, my father was killed, leaving just me, my younger brother and my mother. It was tough, but not as now. My nerves are shredded.”
Anna said there had been power outages at specific times in the wake of Russia’s full-scale war on 24 February but in recent weeks it has become much worse and unpredictable.
Her granddaughter works during the day. If there is no power, she is unable to return home.
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Russian forces have smashed energy and water infrastructure in waves of deliberate strikes in a tactic that seems designed to try to crush Ukraine’s will to resist as winter draws in.
“Of course I’m worried. I wish I had electricity,” Anna said. “It is hard but I don’t want to die. I wish to wait for the peace.”
Myroslava Babchenko, 32 and her children
Mother resorts to melting snow for water
In another apartment nearby, a young mother and her two children, five-year-old Viktor and two-year-old Anna, are also having to adapt to this new, harsher reality of power and water outages on top of the threat of missile strikes.
They too had no electricity or running water on Wednesday and Thursday but services returned in their block on Friday.
“When you have no electricity, you feel like you can adapt,” said Myroslava Babchenko, 32, sitting in her children’s bedroom, which doubles up as a playroom.
“But when the water disappeared and we lost all amenities, it became very uncomfortable. Also, when you have little children, you constantly want to wash their hands and be clean, it’s very hard.”
The destruction in Kyiv
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She resorted to melting some of the year’s first snow this week to create at least water that was suitable for washing.
Myroslava said she wanted to stay with her family in Kyiv but if conditions become much worse then she will move to a holiday home outside the capital that they own.
Water stored in Kyiv apartment
“My brother is on the frontline. He says we shouldn’t be sad and that we need to enjoy life, because they are there for us to be happy,” she said, watching her daughter toddle around, batting a red, heart shaped balloon.
“I don’t think of myself as a soldier but… We have a phrase in Ukraine: ‘What is your power? I’m Ukrainian…’ and I feel proud of that.”
Israel has shown little respect for international borders since becoming the unrivalled military hegemon of the Middle East. Today that meant an Israeli airstrike on a government building in Damascus.
Israel says its attack on a Syrian defence ministry facility was intended as a warning to the new government: stay out of the part of southern Syria we have occupied or else.
Israel has moved into parts of the south of the country, built military bases and declared a line of control.
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Syrian Defence Ministry in Damascus. Pic: AP
On Monday, Syrian tanks heading south to try and restore order following an outbreak of factional fighting were attacked by Israeli warplanes.
“The presence of such vehicles in southern Syria could pose a threat to Israel,” stated the Israel Defence Forces.
In reality, Syria’s ageing tanks pose minimal threat to Israel’s state-of-the art military.
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Syrian presenter interrupted by Israeli airstrike
The Syrian armour was attacked as it entered the area around Sweida in the Druze heartland of southern Syria following factional fighting there.
The flare-up reportedly began with clashes between Bedouin and Druze groups that ended in scores killed.
The background to the escalation is complicated.
At least three Druze militia groups are divided in their loyalties to different religious leaders and differ over how they should respond to calls to assimilate into the new post-revolutionary Syria.
Druze from Syria and Israel protest on the Israeli-Syrian border.
Pic: AP
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Israel is becoming more and more involved in Syria’s internecine war and says it will remain there indefinitely “to protect our communities and thwart any threat”.
Its critics say Israel is operating a policy of divide and rule in Syria, weakening the fledgling government and creating a buffer zone to protect the border with the Golan Heights – originally Syrian territory that it has occupied and annexed for almost half a century.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has used airstrikes to destroy of much of Syria’s military capability weakening its ability to impose control on outlying regions. This makes it more not less likely Israel will have a volatile unstable state on its northern border.
Syrian security forces walk along a street in the southern Druze city of Sweida. Pic: Reuters
America and European powers have chosen to normalise relations with the new government in Damascus and lift sanctions.
In contrast Israel has occupied its territory, bombed its military and today hit one of its government buildings in the capital with an airstrike.
Since its crushing military campaigns against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, Israel has emerged as the unchallenged military power of the region.
There is however a limit to what blunt force can achieve alone. It requires diplomacy to achieve lasting gains and Israel’s repeated assaults on multiple neighbours combined with its relentless campaign in Gaza are winning it few friends in the region.
Israeli airstrikes have targeted the Syrian military headquarters in Damascus amid renewed clashes in the country.
The gate of the Ministry of Defence in the Syrian capital was targeted by two warning missiles from an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft.
State-owned Elekhbariya TV said the Israeli strike had wounded two civilians, the Reuters news agency reported.
Smoke rises from Syria’s defence ministry building in Damascus. Pic: Reuters
It came as Israeli airstrikes targeted security and army vehicles in the southern city of Sweida, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups – marking the third consecutive day Israel has struck Syrian forces.
The Israeli military confirmed it had “struck the entrance gate” in Damascus – and that it would be monitoring “actions being taken against Druze civilians in southern Syria”.
The Israeli airstrike targeted Syria’s military headquarters. Pic: AP
Why Israel is getting involved in Syria’s internal fighting
Israel has shown little respect for international borders since becoming the unrivalled military hegemon of the Middle East. Today that meant an Israeli airstrike on a government building in Damascus.
Israel says its attack on a Syrian defence ministry facility was intended as a warning to the new government: stay out of the part of southern Syria we have occupied or else.
Israel has moved into parts of the south of the country, built military bases and declared a line of control.
On Monday, Syrian tanks heading south to try and restore order following an outbreak of factional fighting were attacked by Israeli warplanes.
“The presence of such vehicles in southern Syria could pose a threat to Israel,” stated the Israel Defence Forces.
In reality, Syria’s ageing tanks pose minimal threat to Israel’s state-of-the art military.
Local media said Sweida and nearby villages were coming under heavy artillery and mortar fire on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The clashes marked the collapse of a ceasefire between Syrian government forces and Druze armed groups, with Israel also warning it would increase its involvement.
Syria said its forces had responded to being fired upon. Pic: Reuters
Israel said it was acting to protect the Druze groups through its attacks on convoys of Syrian forces.
Syria blamed militias in Sweida for violating a ceasefire agreement which had only been reached on Tuesday.
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A statement from its defence ministry said: “Military forces continue to respond to the source of fire inside the city of Sweida, while adhering to rules of engagement to protect residents, prevent harm, and ensure the safe return of those who left the city back to their homes.”
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said the military will continue to strike Syrian forces until they withdraw and should “leave Druze alone”, according to local reports.
At least 20 people have been killed in an incident in Khan Younis, according to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israel and US-backed organisation.
In a statement, it said 19 people were trampled and one was stabbed in a surge “driven by agitators in the crowd”.
“We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd – armed and affiliated with Hamas – deliberately fomented the unrest,” it said.
“For the first time since operations began, GHF personnel identified multiple firearms in the crowd, one of which was confiscated. An American worker was also threatened with a firearm by a member of the crowd during the incident.”
It provided no evidence to support the claim.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claimed 21 Palestinians were killed, “including 15 who died of suffocation as a result of tear gas fired at the starving people and the subsequent stampede” at the GHF site.
Read analysis: Deaths go up when aid sites open
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Gaza deaths increase when aid sites open
The statement is unusual for the GHF, as the controversial group, which has been rejected by the United Nations and other aid groups, rarely acknowledges trouble at its distribution sites.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the territory.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner. It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the UN has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
People carry distributed aid supplies in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza. File pic: AP
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups – which refuse to work with the GHF – had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
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Since the GHF sites began operating, more than 875 people have been killed while receiving aid, both at GHF distribution points or elsewhere, according to the UN human rights office and the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
At least 674 of those have been killed in the vicinity of aid distribution sites run by the GHF.
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