New Delhi:
Ukraine intends to continue fighting Russian forces through the bitter winter, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told DailyExpertNews today. Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February this year and this is the first time Ukrainian troops have fought through the winter, when temperatures dip below freezing.
Asked if winter will “close down” Ukrainian forces, Mr Kuleba said in an exclusive interview for DailyExpertNews: “We will not stop for a single day because every pause means more time for the Russians to dig into the ground, to build fortifications and strengthen their defense lines in the occupied territories of Ukraine”.
“So we will continue our operations, but of course we are people too. Soldiers get tired. They fight for their country, they understand how high [the] the stakes are on the line and we will push forward in all directions we can,” he added.
While Ukraine recently won a massive military victory in Kherson, a city in the south, Mr. Kuleba said Russian missiles are “targeting specifically” power plants and other energy infrastructure in “a deliberate attempt to create unbearable conditions for the civilian population to survive. during the winter”.
The minister gave an example of the hardships that await him and related his own experience.
“It is minus 5 (degrees Celsius) in Kiev, it is very cold, windy, a lot of snow, and two weeks ago, when the whole Ukraine was blacked out, when I came to my house, to my apartment, there was no light, there was no water supply there was no heating so we used candles to light the apartment we bought fresh water to drink something and use it for cooking and this lasted for… and it was extremely cold in the apartment must I say… and this lasted a little over 30 hours,” he said.
“Now imagine that each new massive missile attack will cause a blackout that will last more and more days. And it will take more and more time to restore the system and restart the electricity supply. And while there is no electricity, people are dying in hospitals because they cannot access their basic needs,” he added, underlining that the Russians are trying to “terrorize the civilian population”.
The Russians, Kuleba said, have an edge because they have the maps of Ukraine’s power grid built in the Soviet era.
“They are hitting it one by one, switching off one transformer after another. They are doing it in a very systematic way with only one goal: to terrorize the people of Ukraine, create unbearable conditions for civilians and tear us down. But they will be us don’t break down. Whatever they do, we will survive and we will prevail,” he added.
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