The Secretary of State announces an aid of 55 million dollars to fight against the last phase of Russian terror, the cold winter
With each burst of explosions, the lights go out. It is not a moment, while the sirens go off and everyone runs to the subways. The bombs fall directly on the transformers of power plants and leave the cities in the deepest and most soulless darkness. The heaters go off, cell phones die, the internet disappears.
Russia was able to stop the powerful Nazi army with the brutal winter of 1941, for which the Germans had not prepared, certain that they would take the country before the end of the summer. All the Russians had to do was hold out until autumn came. And that is what they have done this year.
On October 10, the war was in labor, as it approached nine months of life, but only 5% of the electrical infrastructure had been damaged. A month later, that percentage had skyrocketed to 25% and only in the last week has it reached 30%. For Ukrainians, this will be the coldest and darkest winter of their lives.
If Russian tactics evolve, so will the US response. Until now they sent bullets, defensive systems and javelin missiles. Starting this Tuesday, fuses, generators and transformers for power plants. The winter turnaround was announced this Tuesday in Romania by the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, at the G7 meeting that was held within the framework of the NATO summit, where he encouraged other countries to imitate him. “We will continue to identify additional support with our partners and allies to continue to find long-term solutions to restore and repair Ukraine’s energy grid,” the State Department promised in a statement.
The $55 million high-voltage aid is just an emergency package to ease the cold and darkness in the hardest-hit municipalities. In Dnipro, a relatively safe area hosting refugees from Donbas, volunteers greet them with flashlights and huddle together at meetings. “How can we help them if we can’t even turn on the light?” they asked Foreign Policy magazine.
The United States knows that the cold breaks the strongest will. He used it in Guantanamo against al-Qaeda prisoners he captured in Afghanistan, leaving them half-naked in desolate rooms before turning the air conditioning on full blast. Immigrants who cross the border also know the deterrent effect of “the coolers”, as they call the detention centers in which many agree to be deported instead of waiting for the asylum process. “It’s a problem, but nothing that can’t be solved,” Liudmyla Cherkez told the magazine, with that spirit of resistance that has impressed the world.
“Imagine if we had 80 million people without electricity in the US with winter on us,” Admiral James Stavridis, former NATO commander, invited to think on MSNBC. “We know how to build power grids, and fast!” he encouraged. His words squealed in the hearts of Puerto Ricans, because eleven months passed in the 51st bastard state of the American Union until service was restored to the entire island, after the devastation of Hurricane María in September 2017. Was it a matter of of will?
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Ukrainians are about to see if political speeches turn into light. Since the Russian invasion in February, US aid has provided $145 million to repair, maintain and strengthen the Ukrainian energy sector, as well as help bring the natural gas market into the European grid, improve the safety of nuclear power plants and alleviate energy shortages.
The new package will include 2,200 generators to be distributed to different communities and hospitals in cooperation with local authorities. The Kyivteploenergo electricity company, which provides hot water and heating to the capital, will receive equipment to install a thousand emergency points where those who lose service in their homes can go to heat up, where only 22,000 homes have currently been restored. . And behind it, the promise of renewables, the only solution to win the war in the long term, this winter and those that come after it.
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