November 25, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

These satellite images illustrate just how much Russia's war has affected infrastructure in Ukraine.

Above, while surrounding parts of Europe and Russia are illuminated in light, much of Ukraine is dark.

And below, a composite image from NASA shows Ukraine's network lit up before Russia invaded, and how much it has changed until this month.

Right now in the capital of Kyiv, about 50% of customers remain without power in near-freezing temperatures, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The UN also estimates that more than 7.2 million Ukrainian refugees have been recorded across Europe, while more than 6.9 million have been internally displaced.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN that he's “confident" that both Hungary and Turkey will ratify the accession of Finland and Sweden to the alliance, following Hungary’s announcement that it would support membership for both countries next year.

“I can’t tell you exactly when,” he said, but added on "CNN This Morning" that it was “one of fastest ever accession processes in history.”

He commended the United States in particular “for providing unprecedented support to Ukraine.”

Stoltenberg told CNN that supporting Ukraine was important, “because our own security interest is to ensure that President Putin does not win in Ukraine.”

When asked about comments from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley that there may be a window for negotiations to end the war, Stoltenberg replied, “what happens around the negotiating table is dependent on what happens on the battlefield.”

Schools in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv have opened their doors to residents who don’t have power at home.

Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said the city had set up hundreds of power supply points in educational and other facilities, where people can get warm, drink tea and recharge telephones and flashlights.

“Kyiv has launched more than 400 heating points. These points will work every day,” Klitschko said in a post on Telegram. “The majority of them are located in schools and other social facilities. In case there is no electricity supply in your house for more than a day, you will be able to come to the heating point to recharge gadgets or flashlights, drink tea and find out information about the nearest water pumps, shops and pharmacies.”

Here's why: Half of the city’s households were still without power on Friday morning after a large-scale Russian missile assault two days earlier hit power generation facilities across the country.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv to ensure support for the country as winter sets in.

Cleverly announced another 3 million pounds (about $3.6 million) of support to the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine, and he and Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey also announced 5 million pounds for a Ukraine-led initiative to ship grain to countries facing famine.

"The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine. I have today announced a package of hands-on support for our Ukrainian friends in their fight, from ambulances to crucial support for survivors of the sexual violence carried out by the Russian military," Cleverly said.

New funding will be targeted to areas recently taken back from Russian control in southern Ukraine, including Kherson region, according to the release.

After Russia's attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure this week, the country is hurrying to restore power to citizens' homes, but adverse weather in the form of sub-zero temperatures, rain and wind are hampering efforts, officials say.

Millions of Ukrainians are being “plunged into extreme hardship and appalling conditions of life” due to this, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk warned Friday.

Here are more of the headlines:

Half of Kyiv remains without power: Some 50% of Ukraine's capital Kyiv was without power on Friday morning following the Russian strikes, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Water has been fully restored and emergency crews are working fast to restore heat to the city, the Kyiv city military administration said.

Electricity deficit: Although power has been restored to critical infrastructure across Ukraine's regions, efforts to restore electricity to household consumers have been slowed, according to national energy supply company Ukrenergo. There is still a deficit of electricity, and consumers will lose access to power at times under “planned and emergency consumption restriction schedules," the company said Friday.

Russian shelling reported near Zaporizhzhia and Nikopol: Russia struck the outskirts of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia overnight into Friday, Oleksandr Starukh, head of the local regional military administration, said on Telegram Friday, while the Dnipropetrovsk region, across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, also reported shelling. 

UN watchdog providing support to four more Ukraine nuclear plants: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has started providing onsite support to four more Ukrainian nuclear power plants – Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, South Ukraine, and Chornobyl – in response to a request from the country, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a video statement on Thursday.

Following the strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, the operational nuclear power plants of Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, South Ukraine and Khmelnytskyi were disconnected from the grid and "forced to rely on emergency diesel generators for the electricity they needed to ensure their continued safety and security," Grossi said.

NATO "will not back down" on support for Ukraine: NATO will not reduce its support for Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Friday.

Stoltenberg said foreign ministers are providing “unprecedented military support” and he expects they will agree to step up “non-lethal support,” at the Bucharest meeting. 

Millions of Ukrainians are being “plunged into extreme hardship and appalling conditions of life” because of repeated Russian missile strikes on the country’s critical energy infrastructure, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said in a statement on Friday.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has confirmed the deaths of 77 civilians since it says Russian “began its ongoing barrage of missile strikes and loitering munition attacks” on Ukraine on October 10.

Some background: Attacks from Russia this week targeted critical energy infrastructure across the country, resulting in the temporary shutdown of most of its power plants and leaving the “vast majority” of people without electricity.

Germany is in discussion with allies over Poland’s request to send German Patriot air missile systems directly to Ukraine, federal government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said Friday.

“We are following very closely how discussions in Poland continue,” she said.

Hoffman said Germany does not want to “speculate” if Poland would change its mind on accepting its support, adding, “I don’t want to interpret what has been said.”

Blaszcak’s comments came after Germany offered Poland assistance in providing anti-missile systems, including the Patriot system, to Poland to help Warsaw strengthen its air defense capacity following a missile that landed on Polish territory near the Ukrainian border on Nov. 15. 

The leaders of Poland and NATO have said the missile, which killed two people, was likely fired by Ukrainian forces defending their country against a barrage of Russian strikes, and that the incident appeared to be an accident.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will be meeting twice in Berlin in the coming week, Hoffmann said. She added that Germany’s proposal to Poland on Patriot systems will be “an issue for the chancellor.”

NATO will not reduce its support for Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Friday.

“So NATO will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will not back down,” Stoltenberg stated.

Increase in "non-lethal support": Stoltenberg said foreign ministers are providing “unprecedented military support” and he expects they will agree to step up “non-lethal support,” at the Bucharest meeting. 

NATO has been delivering fuel, medical supplies, winter equipment and drone jammers, according to Stoltenberg.

Stoltenberg thanked allies for their contributions and said he will call for further contribution at the Bucharest meeting to help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era equipment to those of modern NATO standards, as well as support military training.

He said decisions over sending US-made Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine are “national decisions" for specific nations, when asked about Warsaw’s request for Germany to send Patriot units to Ukraine rather than Poland. Germany’s offer to Poland came following a deadly missile strike on Polish territory near the Ukrainian border on November 15.

Stoltenberg said that in the past, with the advanced NASAMS air defense system, training was conducted in NATO ally countries by NATO personnel. However, no NATO personnel has conducted work inside Ukraine, as this would mean NATO was a party to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“There are ways for us to ensure that [Ukraine] can operate modern advanced systems without deploying NATO personnel inside the Ukraine. But … the specific decisions on the specific systems are national decisions,” he said.

He added that sometimes end user agreements, and other arrangements, meant that consultation with other allies were required, but ultimately the decision must be taken by national governments.

The race to restore power to homes in Ukraine is being slowed by “strong winds, rain and sub-zero temperatures,” national energy supply company Ukrenergo warned Friday.

“The pace of restoration [to household consumers] is slowed down by difficult weather conditions: due to strong winds, rain and sub-zero temperatures at night, ice and gusts of wind in distribution networks add to the damage caused by Russian missiles,” it said, adding that repair teams were “working around the clock to repair the damage.”

“More than 70% of the country's consumption needs” were now covered, the statement read, and the power has been restored to “critical infrastructure facilities in all regions: boiler houses, gas distribution stations, water utilities, sewage treatment plants.”

However, it said that there was still a deficit of electricity in the system, and therefore consumers would lose access to electricity at times under “planned and emergency consumption restriction schedules”.

Infrastructure under attack: Russia's targeting of critical infrastructure on Wednesday resulted in the temporary shutdown of most of Ukraine's power plants and left the majority of people without electricity. The Ukrainian armed forces said 70 Russian missiles were launched on Wednesday afternoon and 51 shot down, along with five attack drones.

Russia has turned its attention to destroying energy infrastructure in Ukraine ahead of the bitter winter season, and successive waves of strikes have left much of the country facing rolling blackouts.