JRL NEWSWATCH: “Can Ukraine Survive the Winter? What the Country Needs to Hold Out” – Foreign Affairs
“… Russia has repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure …. successfully attack[ing] 40 percent of Ukraine’s power grids with … missiles and Iranian drones. … bomb[ing] energy facilities, including hydroelectric dams, leaving more than one million Ukrainians without electricity. In Kyiv, [reportedly] 80 percent of residents are without water …. Economists project … Kyiv’s economy will shrink by at least 35 percent in 2022 … [T]he [UN] estimates … nine of ten Ukrainians could be impoverished by Christmas. … [M]oney the West is sending … is just as important as … weapons systems …. [A]ttacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have led to blackouts …. Ultimately, the best way to protect Ukraine’s energy systems and … civilian population is to send air defense systems. … [T]he United States is trying to speed delivery of two advanced [SAM] systems, with six more coming later. … Ukraine continues to advance on the battlefield, and its troops’ morale remains high. But for the country to survive the winter, butter will be as important as guns. [W]arm weather and abundant imports mean … European gas storage facilities are over 90 percent full … [F]uel prices in Europe have … plummeted. So far, Putin’s attempts to bully Europe on … energy … are failing …. For Washington and its allies … failure in Ukraine would simply mean confronting him again on another European battlefield. The faster the West aids Ukraine, the more quickly it can stymie Putin’s ambitions.”