Ukrainians urged to get out of hard-hit areas, stock up on winter supplies

Ukraine could face rolling blackouts across the country through March, an energy expert said, due to what another official described Tuesday as the "colossal" damage done to Ukraine's power grid by relentless Russian airstrikes. Ukrainians are being told to stock up on supplies and evacuate hard-hit areas.

"Although there are fewer blackouts now, I want everyone to understand: Most likely, Ukrainians will have to live with blackouts until at least the end of March," said Sergey Kovalenko, CEO of private energy provider DTEK Yasno.

"I think we need to be prepared for different options, even the worst ones. Stock up on warm clothes, blankets, think about what will help you wait out a long shutdown," he said, addressing Ukrainian residents.

Russia has been pummelling Ukraine's power grid and other infrastructure from the air for weeks, as the war approaches its nine-month milestone. That onslaught has caused widespread blackouts and deprived millions of Ukrainians of electricity, heat and water.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday in a video speech to a French municipal group that Russian missile strikes have destroyed nearly half of the country's energy facilities "to turn the cold of winter into a weapon of mass destruction."

Later, in his nightly video address, he announced the establishment of "Points of Invincibility" where people can gather for electricity, mobile communications, internet access, heat, water and first aid.

Temperatures commonly stay below freezing in Ukraine in the winter, dropping to –20 C or even lower in some regions, and snow has already fallen in many areas, including Kyiv. Ukrainian authorities are evacuating civilians from recently liberated sections of the southern Kherson and Mykolaiv regions out of fear the winter will be too hard to survive.

"This winter will be life-threatening for millions of people in Ukraine," said Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, the World Health Organization's regional director for Europe, due to the lack of power and Ukraine's damaged health facilities.

Ukrainian authorities have started evacuating civilians from recently liberated sections of the southern Kherson and Mykolaiv regions out of fear that the winter will be too hard to survive. 

In a Telegram message for Kherson residents — especially the elderly, women with children and those who are ill or disabled — Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk posted a number of ways residents can express interest in leaving.

"You can be evacuated for the winter period to safer regions of the country," she wrote.

Heeding the call, women and children — including a little red-headed boy whose shirt read in English "Made with Love" —- carried their limited belongings, along with dogs and cats, onto trains departing from the newly liberated city of Kherson.

"We are leaving now because it's scary to sleep at night," departing resident Tetyana Stadnik said on a cramped night sleeper train Monday as a dog wandered around. "Shells are flying over our heads and exploding. It's too much. We will wait until the situation gets better. And then we will come back home."

Another resident said leaving was the right thing to do to help the country.