‘Imagine if just one dam is hit’: Russian-Ukrainian energy war heats up

Moscow is targeting Ukraine’s energy hubs with intensity after a string of successful Ukrainian attacks inside Russia.

Olena Rozumovska is at the end of her rope.

Her two-bedroom apartment in an Soviet-era concrete building has no electricity or water supply, and the central heating is off after Russian drones and missiles struck Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, on Friday.

“It’s unbearable, impossible. I want to howl with despair,” the 33-year-old, whose husband, Mykhailo, is fighting against Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine, told Al Jazeera over the phone.

The outdoor temperatures in Kharkiv barely rose above freezing on Friday, a cold drizzle was falling, and her apartment building “is losing warmth”, she said.

Early in the morning, she jumped out of bed on hearing the thud of a powerful explosion. More than a dozen heavy, blood-curdling blasts followed as she hid in the frigid basement with her two children, Bohdan, who is seven, and four-year-old Roxana.