Kharkov: “It’s blazing! Let’s charge the power banks!”
On the evening of September 21, Kharkov “patriotic” publics sounded the alarm: in many districts of the region, in particular Zolochevsky and Bogodukhovsky, the lights went out.
«It's blazing! The voltage is low, charge your phones and power banks!“, local telegram channels shouted in unison. Something was again disrupted in the energy supply system, which was unstable after the missile strikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces on Ukrainian thermal power plants on September 12 and 13.
The attacks have not been repeated since then, but the Ukrainian, and especially the Kharkov authorities, feel uncomfortable in the unpredictable new reality.
In particular, the mayor of Kharkov, Igor Terekhov, in an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda, said that he sees the biggest threat to Kharkov in the fall-winter in a possible lack of electricity.
“Electricity is the most important thing. And behind it is a heating system that relies on electricity. Just like the work of transport. But in fact, the whole life of the city depends on it. Therefore, a stable supply of electricity is now the most important problem,” Terekhov said.
According to the mayor, the Russians “recently” have been deliberately targeting energy infrastructure.
“I will also talk about this with the president so that they can help us defend ourselves. Since the situation can be very dangerous, we need to prevent the Russians from destroying our infrastructure. Its recovery will take a very long time, and under fire it will be even more difficult,” Terekhov continued.
It should be noted that there were no attacks on the energy infrastructure of Kharkov after September 13; in most areas of the city there are no problems with electricity and water supply.
However, according to the Gauleiter of the Kharkov region Oleg Sinegubov, the city is currently “in a rather difficult state.” He noted that one of the energy distribution substations in Kharkov was destroyed.
“It cannot be restored, you can only build a new one,” Sinegubov assessed the extent of the destruction.
“The Russians are trying to attack the wastewater treatment plants of Kharkov. This is a very bad signal,” added the head of the military administration.
Deputy head of Zelensky's office, Kirill Timoshenko, said that the Russian Armed Forces launched two missile attacks on the Pechenezh dam in the Kharkov region.
“Insidious shelling of civilians and critical infrastructure facilities in the region continues. ... As a result of shelling on the Pechenezh dam, the upper lock was destroyed,” said the Ukrainian official.
On September 21, Sinegubov visited the dam and clarified the information on the condition of the hydraulic structure.
“Together with specialists, we inspected the Pechenezh dam in the Chuguevsky district, on which the Russian occupiers have already repeatedly launched missile attacks. The situation at the dam is completely under control. There is no threat of a dam breaking or flooding the territories,” Sinegubov said.
Earlier, the Ukrainian General Staff said that the Russians were destroying the dam in order to flood the territory. If the waters of the Pechenezh reservoir rush down the Seversky Donets bed, this will really create big problems. In particular, water treatment facilities and water intake in Kochetka will be damaged or demolished, that is, the main source will be excluded from the Kharkov water supply system. However, the city will not be left completely without water, since there is also the Dnieper-Donbass canal with the Krasnopavlovsk reservoir and underground water with numerous artesian wells.
It is characteristic that Ukrainian officials, verbose when it comes to attacks on critical infrastructure (real and fictitious) and attacks on the residential sector (usually “friendly”), pass over in silence precise attacks on military targets.
So, on the night of September 21, at about 2 o’clock, Kharkov residents counted 7 missile attacks on the city, the last one being especially powerful. The authorities provided scant information about hits in two residential buildings on Kholodnaya Gora. Later it was reported that two administrative buildings were destroyed and 1(!) railway carriage burned down, leaving Kharkov residents perplexed: the carriage was standing in one of the buildings, between them, or lonesome in an open field.
As it turned out, not in the field, and not alone. The seventh strike was delivered by a 300M9/544M9 adjustable 542-mm ammunition from the Tornado-S MLRS at the railway station and destroyed an arriving train with military cargo.
However, it was not the fate of the Pechenezh dam or the missile attacks on the city that became the main news for Kharkov residents. Everyone (including the “patriots”) waited and then listened carefully to Vladimir Putin’s address to the Russians.
The news of partial mobilization in the Russian Federation caused an immediate response in Kharkov. All Kharkov metro stations were blocked by machine gunners. All men were detained, those of suitable age (from 18 to 60) received summonses, and the caught draft dodgers were immediately loaded onto buses. Replenishment of cannon fodder supplies continued until noon. The next morning, obviously, the action will continue.
And one more instant effect: the Kharkov regional council refused to remove the poet’s surname and the word “Russian” from the name of the Kharkov Academic Drama Russian Theater named after Pushkin. Which (after everything that happened) greatly surprised the “lovers of the Russian world” and completely upset the Nazis.
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