US to help Ukraine restore electricity

The United States will announce new aid on Tuesday to help Ukraine restore electricity as its people faced another week of brutal cold and darkness after Russian missile strikes on its power grid caused rolling blackouts.

Russia has targeted Ukraine's power plants, transmission and distribution facilities and water pumping stations since early October, with each barrage having greater impact than the last as damage accumulates and winter sets in.

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Ukraine warns of more Russian attacks as fighting rages in Donetsk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he expects new attacks that could be as bad as last week's bombardment, which left millions of people with no heat, water or power.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Bucharest early on Tuesday, will announce new assistance to help restore Ukraine’s power transmission capacity, a senior State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference. File photo

Washington has been working with US utilities and hardware providers and with European nations to locate equipment that can restore Ukraine's high-voltage transmission stations, the official said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a gathering of seven Nordic and Baltic foreign ministers that his country needed transformers and improved air defences.

Kyiv and its allies say Russia's attacks on civilian infrastructure are war crimes. Moscow denies its intent is to hurt civilians but said last week their suffering would not end unless Ukraine yielded to Russia's demands, without spelling them out.

A woman with a dog waits for a bus in a street without electricity in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters

In Kyiv, snow fell and temperatures were hovering around freezing as millions in and around the capital struggled to heat their homes.

Christmas trees would be erected, minus lights, throughout the battered city in a defiant display of holiday spirit, officials said.

"We cannot allow Putin to steal our Christmas," Mayor Vitali Klitschko told the RBC-Ukraine news agency that in an interview.

Reuters