The UK Ministry of Defense has suggested that Russia has almost completely depleted its stockpile of Iranian weapons before the onset of winter, which is expected to be difficult for Ukraine due to Moscow’s attacks on electricity grids that have left millions of people in the dark and without heating. .
The UK Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday that Russia had likely launched hundreds of Iranian-made drones in its war with Ukraine since last September.
It is also likely that Russia has used up nearly all of its current stockpile of Iranian-made weapons and will be looking for new supplies, the ministry said on Twitter.
She pointed out that Russian attacks combine the use of drones with conventional weapons systems that can be reused.
Tough winter
On the other hand, Ukraine is going through a difficult winter due to Russian attacks on the power grid, and on Tuesday the Ukrainian government urged its citizens to rationalize their use of energy amid relentless Russian attacks that cut the country’s power grid by half. , and the UN World Health Organization has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine this winter.
Authorities have said that millions of Ukrainians, including residents of the capital Kyiv, could face power outages until at least the end of March due to rocket attacks that have caused “enormous” damage, according to Ukraine’s National Energy Corporation.
Ukraine experienced unusually mild temperatures this fall, but temperatures have begun to dip below freezing and are expected to hit minus 20 degrees Celsius or even lower in some areas during the winter months.
Russia has targeted Ukrainian energy facilities after a series of battlefield setbacks, including the withdrawal of Russian troops from the southern city of Kherson to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, which runs through the center of the country.
“The rationalization of the electric power industry remains very important,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram on Tuesday.
The head of the National Electric Company, Vladimir Kudritsky, said on Tuesday that virtually no power plant remained undamaged, but denied the need to evacuate civilians.
“darkest days”
The World Health Organization said hundreds of hospitals and medical facilities in Ukraine lack fuel, water and electricity to meet people’s basic needs.
“Ukraine’s healthcare system is experiencing the darkest day of the war. After more than 700 attacks, it became a victim of the energy crisis,” Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, said after visiting Ukraine.
According to Sergei Kovalenko, chief executive of Yasno, which supplies Kyiv, workers are trying to fix damage to the energy infrastructure.
Stock up on clothes and blankets that provide warmth and think of options to help you survive a prolonged power outage, Kovalenko said.
Ukrainian media cite a statement by Deputy Director of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko that gas supplies have been resumed in 1,300 districts that were recaptured from Russia as a result of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Also, water supply was resumed in 1,400 districts, mobile communication services were restored in 1,200.
Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk, in an appeal via the Telegram application addressed to the residents of Kherson, has unveiled a number of ways in which residents can express their desire to leave. “In winter, you may be evacuated to safer areas of the country,” she wrote.
The Russian TASS news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Russian attacks on the power grid were the result of Kyiv’s unwillingness to negotiate.
Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians as part of a so-called “special military operation.”
And fighting continues to escalate in the east as Russia launched an offensive along the front line west of the city of Donetsk, which has been controlled by its puppets since 2014.
On the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Russian air defenses were activated over Sevastopol on Tuesday and two drones were shot down, the region’s governor said, urging residents to remain calm.
Sevastopol is the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.