KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainians could face rolling blackouts from now through March in frigid, snowy weather because Russian airstrikes have caused "colossal" damage to the power grid, officials said. To cope, authorities are urging people to stock up on supplies and evacuate hard-hit areas.
Sergey Kovalenko, the CEO of private energy provider DTEK Yasno, said the company is under instructions from Ukraine's state grid operator to resume emergency blackouts in the areas it covers, including the capital, Kyiv, and the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
"Most likely, Ukrainians will have to live with blackouts until at least the end of March," Kovalenko warned on Facebook.
"We need to be prepared for different options, even the worst ones. Stock up on warm clothes and blankets. Think about what will help you wait out a long shutdown," he told Ukrainian residents.
Russia has launched six aerial attacks against Ukraine's power grid and other infrastructure since Oct. 10. That targeted 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.
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.
More hardship was in store for those remaining.
The repeated Russian attacks -- with the most severe Nov. 15 involving 100 heavy rockets -- have damaged practically every thermal and hydroelectric power plant, and "the scale of destruction is colossal," Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the CEO of Ukrenergo, the state-owned power grid operator, said Tuesday. In addition, electric substations have been damaged, while nuclear power plants have largely been spared, he said.
Kyiv regional authorities said Tuesday that more than 150 settlements were enduring emergency blackouts because of snowfall and high winds.
Slowed by the weather, Ukrainian forces are pressing a counteroffensive while Moscow's troops maintain artillery shelling and missile strikes.
In a key battlefield development, Natalia Humeniuk of the Ukrainian army's Operational Command South said Kyiv's forces are attacking Russian positions on the Kinburn Spit, as well as parts of the southern Kherson region still under Russian control.
Recapturing the Kinburn Spit could help Ukrainian forces push into Russian-held territory in the Kherson region "under significantly less Russian artillery fire" than if they directly crossed the Dnieper River, a Washington-based think tank said. The Institute for the Study of War added that control of the area would help Kyiv alleviate Russian strikes on Ukraine's southern seaports and allow it to increase its naval activity in the Black Sea.
In Sevastopol, Russian-installed Gov. Mikhail Razvozhaev said air defense systems intercepted at least two drones, including those targeting a power station. Zelenskyy has vowed to recapture the Crimean Peninsula, but his government didn't immediately comment on the Russian report.
In other developments, Ukraine's counter-intelligence service, police officers and the country's National Guard searched Tuesday one of the most famous Orthodox Christian sites in Kyiv after a priest spoke favorably about Russia during a service.
Ukraine's presidential office said Tuesday at least eight civilians were killed and 16 were injured over the previous 24 hours, as Moscow's forces again used drones, rockets and heavy artillery to pound eight Ukrainian regions.
Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko also said Russia launched missiles at Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian military hub, and the city of Avdiivka.
Ukrainian officials on Tuesday handed over the bodies of 33 soldiers recovered from Russia to their families.
The U.S. announced disbursement of $4.5 billion to help stabilize Ukraine's economy and support key Ukrainian government functions.