President Zelensky Calls on Residents to Resilience in Winter as the Government Tryes to Restore Electricity

JAKARTA - President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to Ukrainians to be patient and strong in the face of the harsh winter, as officials press ahead with efforts to restore power and other services destroyed by Russian airstrikes.

Russia has been pounding Ukraine's power infrastructure since early October, causing power outages and leaving millions of people without heating as temperatures plunge with the arrival of winter.

"To get through this winter, we must be tougher and more united than ever before," President Zelensky said in his evening speech on Sunday, reported Reuters December 5.

"We cannot allow any kind of internal conflict and attack to weaken us all, even if someone out there thinks that will strengthen him personally," he continued.

In Ukraine, officials have been carrying out scheduled power outages as they race to restore power.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said on Telegram that power outages would be limited from Monday to a planned "stabilization" power outage to get the network working again, but added the situation remained "difficult".

The country's largest electricity supplier, DTEK, said outages were planned for three other regions, Odesa, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk in southern and eastern Ukraine.

In Kherson, left largely without power when Russian troops left the southern city last month, the regional governor said 85 percent of customers now have electricity.

Regarding the battlefield, President Zelensky said Ukrainian troops were holding positions along the front, including near Bakhmut, which is seen as the next Russian target on their advance through Donetsk.

It is known that Western countries have condemned the wave of Russian airstrikes against civilian infrastructure and electricity.

US Deputy Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking the war to a new level of "barbarism" by trying to turn off civilian electricity.

Russia said the strikes did not target civilians and were meant to reduce Ukraine's ability to fight the war, prompting it to negotiate although Kyiv said such attacks amounted to war crimes.