In a further show of defiance, shops, restaurants and other businesses refused to close their doors to customers. “We continue to work, no one is canceling plans and all shops, restaurants and institutions are open,” said Katerina, who lives in central Kyiv. Anastasiia Barsukova, who works at a cafe, said her colleagues brought as much water as possible to restart the coffee machines and started serving takeaway meals. “We continue to live and work to earn money, support our finances, donate to the army and volunteers,” added Dasha, 28, from the capital’s Darnitsky district. While queuing for water, Tamara, 74, said: “The racists [Russians] they have ruined everything here. And they are happy about it. But we can stand in line and they couldn’t handle that. Because we will fight back against them, not the other way around.” Maksym, a Kiev resident who lives near a power station that was hit earlier this month, said: “We will endure and survive until our victory. We have no choice. If we surrender, then genocide awaits us.” Denis Shmykhal, Ukraine’s prime minister, said the raids targeted 10 Ukrainian regions and destroyed 18 facilities, mostly energy-related. At least five explosions ripped through the blue sky over Kyiv shortly after 8am local time in a targeted attack on the city for the third Monday last month. A huge mushroom cloud passed over the city skyline as air raid sirens sounded. While air defense systems protected Kyiv from the full brunt of Russian aerial bombardment, Vitali Klitschko, the city’s mayor, reported that about 80 percent of residents were left without a water supply. About 350,000 apartments were left without electricity, he added, after the Russian strike destroyed an energy facility that supplies them with electricity. Government officials have spent months preparing for blackouts, buying generators to keep the most critical services online this winter. Backup diesel power units kept the lights and life support machines on in each hospital.
