Ukrainians urge US to ramp up support before winter

• Leaders from Ukraine’s civic society urge the US to step up aid. Much of eastern Ukraine was thrown into darkness.
• The delegation will meet with members of Congress and the State Department.
• Since Russia’s invasion in February, the US has contributed $15.2 billion to help Ukraine meet its military needs.

On Monday, a group of leaders from Ukraine’s civic society labelled widespread power outages as a Russian plan and urged the US to step up aid to build on recent successes before winter.

As Kyiv gained unexpected advances on the battlefield, much of eastern Ukraine was thrown into darkness on Sunday. President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed premeditated attacks by Moscow for the blackout.

The International Center for Ukrainian Victory, a conglomerate of civil society organisations, is led by Hanna Hopko. “Their approach is to have more cold before the winter season starts by destroying all critical infrastructure,” she added.

Hopko, the former chair of the foreign affairs committee of the Ukrainian parliament, pointed out that the power outages coincided with September 11 and underlined Kyiv’s calls—which President Joe Biden did not support—to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.

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Hopko is a member of a delegation from Ukrainian civic society visiting Washington, D.C. for a week, and speaking to reporters at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The delegation will meet with members of Congress and the State Department.

Also on Sunday, Kiev said that the sixth and final reactor at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia power plant, which formerly supplied one-quarter of Ukraine’s electricity, had been shut down due to safety concerns.

According to Alyona Getmanchuk, director of the New Europe Center think tank, the energy supplied “the south and the east, the war-torn regions that are already on the edge of humanitarian catastrophe.”

Through a refugee influx and incentives for the West to compel Ukraine into a negotiated settlement, the goal is to “make European states suffer even more,” she claimed.

“Putin really thinks that neither Ukraine nor Europe will survive this winter. That’s what he really hopes and that is actually the central pillar around which he now is developing his threats,” she said.

According to the Russian narrative, troops can leave and come back with a stronger advantage in the spring, she said.

“That’s why we keep saying it’s very important to be ready to get back as much of our land as possible before the winter comes,” Getmanchuk said.

Since Russia’s invasion in February, the US has contributed $15.2 billion, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Kyiv last week.

However, the US has resisted some of Ukraine’s demands, like as missiles with larger ranges, out of concern for a wider conflict with Russia.

Hopko expressed gratitude for the assistance but claimed that the initial offerings were insufficient for Ukraine to “o fight the second-largest army in the world.”

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