Concern about the potential for waterborne illnesses adds another challenge to Ukrainian officials as they report slow progress in the early stages of a counteroffensive aimed at taking back Russian territory.
“We were getting used to the shelling, but I’ve never seen a situation like this,” said one woman rescued in Kherson after a dam upstream was destroyed.
Bombarding the power grid has been an essential part of Russia’s invasion, but officials say it would take many more missile strikes to badly damage a wind farm than a power plant.
One town is protecting a statue of St. Nick with sandbags, another is putting its Christmas tree underground and others are cranking up noisy generators to keep the holiday spirit alive.
In the immediate aftermath of an attack, the horrors of the Ukraine war, the random death and the lives upended take on a deeper meaning when seen close-up.