How Russia plunged Ukraine into darkness: Satellite images show lights out across the country after Putin targeted energy stations in latest brutal barrage of missiles
- Strikes on Wednesday disconnected three Ukrainian nuclear plants from the grid
- This plunged the country into darkness as temperatures fell below freezing
- Satellite images of Ukraine on November 24 showed a blacked-out nation
- This offered a stark contrast to images from February 24, the day of the invasion
- Cities that were once bright spots of light were dimmed or totally extinguished
By CHRIS JEWERS FOR MAILONLINE and AFP
PUBLISHED: 03:55 AEDT, 25 November 2022 | UPDATED: 04:44 AEDT, 25 November 2022
Remarkable satellite images have shown how Ukraine was plunged into almost complete darkness after Vladimir Putin targeted power stations in the latest brutal wave of missiles.
Strikes on Wednesday left multiple people dead, disconnected three Ukrainian nuclear plants automatically from the national grid and even provoked blackouts in neighbouring Moldova, whose energy network is linked to Ukraine.
Such attacks have forced millions of people to go without light, water or heating for hours or days at a time, just as outdoor temperatures fall below freezing.
These remarkable satellite images show how Ukraine was plunged into almost complete darkness following the latest brutal wave of Russian missiles
Using a NASA satellite tool, it is possible to compare what Ukraine looked like from space at night before Vladimir Putin's February 24 invasion, and what it looks like today - ten months on - and after the latest round of missile strikes.
The difference could not be more stark. What was once a bustling European city has been plunged into darkness by war, with the lights of its cities either dimmed or extinguished thanks to Moscow's unrelenting, indiscriminate strikes.
The satellite image taken of February 24 shows Ukraine's major population centres - including Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Khariv - brightly lit with white light and easily visible from space, as is the case with its European neighbours.
In the image taken on November 24, however, the lights from the same cities appear to only be dim imitations of how they were almost a year earlier. On the map, Ukraine appears to be a large, dark space in the middle of other brightly lit countries.
Only the capital Kyiv - home to almost three million people - stands out, and is still far dimmer than it was on February 24. Lviv, Ukraine's major city in the West and thus farthest from the conflict, can also be seen.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine's east, where the fighting has been fiercest, it appears to be in total blackout - devoid of almost any light from the previously thriving cities.
Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Khariv are totally invisible. Mariupol, which was totally levelled by Russian missiles in the early stages of the war and is still occupied by Putin's soldiers, is also gone from the image.
This is contrasted with Moscow to the north-east, which can be seen in the satellite image shining brighter than all other cities in the region.
Other large population centres, such as Warsaw in Poland to the West, or Minsk in Belarus to the north, also shine brightly in the satellite image when compared to Kyiv and Ukraine's other major cities.
FEBRUARY 24: Ukraine is seen from space on the day Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of the country. Major cities are seen brightly lit, as with other European cities at the time
NOVEMBER 24: The lights from the same cities appear to only be dim imitations of how they were ten months earlier on February 24. On the map, Ukraine appears to be a large, dark space in the middle of brightly lit countries, with only small specks of light
On Thursday, Ukraine was struggling to to repair its battered power and water services after cruise missiles hit its power grid and temperatures plunged.
The Ukrainian energy system is on the brink of collapse and millions have been subjected to emergency blackouts for weeks due to systematic Russian bombardments of the grid.
The World Health Organisation has warned of 'life-threatening' consequences and estimated that millions could leave their homes as a result.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said more than two-thirds of the capital was still cut off on Thursday despite municipal workers in Kyiv restoring some water service overnight.
'Seventy percent of the capital remains without electricity,' Klitschko said. 'Energy companies are making every effort to return it as soon as possible,' he added.
Pictured: Firefighters work at the site of an apartment block destroyed by shelling in Vyshhorod, near Kyiv on November 23
Pictured: A man steps carefully through the rubble today after a Russian missile struck a residential street in Vyshhorod on Wednesday. Attacks across Ukraine on Wednesday left multiple people dead and disconnected three Ukrainian nuclear plants
Pictured: A woman returns to view her home in Vyshhorod after yesterday's missile strikes on November 24. Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, claimed - without evidence - that damage to Ukraine's infrastructure was caused by missiles fired by Ukrainian air defence
Ukraine's military accused Russian forces of firing around 70 cruise missiles at targets across the country on Wednesday and of deploying attack drones.
Moscow's targeting of Ukrainian power facilities is their latest strategy hoping to force capitulation after nine months of war that has seen Russian forces fail in most of their stated territorial objectives.
At least 10 people were killed in Wednesday's strikes, including a newborn baby who was killed when a Russian missile destroyed a maternity ward in the city of Vilniansk, in Ukraine's central Zaporizhzhia region.
Since Russia's invasion began on February 24, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has registered 703 attacks on Ukrainian healthcare infrastructure. Putin's forces have been accused of carrying out numerous war crimes.
Ukraine's energy ministry said that all three nuclear facilities had been reconnected by Thursday morning.
The governor of Kharkiv region - home to the country's second largest city - said the city was suffering electricity supply issues and 'emergency power shutdowns'.
The head of the central region of Poltava, Dmytro Lunin, said authorities were 'working around the clock to restore power'.
'In the coming hours, we will start supplying energy to critical infrastructure and then to the majority of households,' Lunin said.
About 50 percent of central Dnipropetrovsk region had electricity, governor Valentyn Reznichenko said.
'The energy supply situation is complicated. So shutdowns will continue in the region to reduce the pressure on the grid as much as possible,' Reznichenko warned.
Repair work was ongoing elsewhere, including in the Rivne, Cherkasy, Kirovograd and Zhytomyr regions, officials said.
Share or comment on this article:
Satellite image shows Ukraine in almost total darkness after latest round of Russian missile strikes
'The Citing Articles' 카테고리의 다른 글
| 황당 얘기에… 野핵심들 “국정농단” 띄우고, 권익위 “공익신고 검토” (0) | 2022.11.25 |
|---|---|
| 김만배도 “428억 이재명 측근에 나눠주기로 했다” 첫 인정 (0) | 2022.11.25 |
| 김건희 여사 ‘빈곤 포르노’ 논란에, 캄보디아 대사의 일침 (0) | 2022.11.24 |
| '청담동 술자리' 거짓말 첼리스트·제보자 출금…강제수사 돌입 (0) | 2022.11.24 |
| “폭언 남친 의심 피하려 거짓말했다” 첼리스트가 밝힌 그날 (0) | 2022.11.24 |