Mutual Aid Alert for East Ukraine

After the large-scale missile attack on Ukrainian cities on March 22nd, including Kharkiv/Kharkov, we are again at something we had almost forgotten since the beginning of 2023. Blackouts in Kharkov the current spring reached more than 12 hours in some areas, although they usually last about 6 hours. Smaller air strikes continue periodically to this day. From the mayor's words from early April, "a missile barrage destroyed almost all of Kharkiv’s power-generation capacity." Electricity supply is provided by supply from other regions. Under these conditions, the “black winter” scenario, which everyone was warned about last winter, becomes quite real in 2024-2025, since the heating and energy infrastructure is broken. Everything will depend on the restoration of damaged capacities, the load on nuclear power plants and the availability of excess energy in the EU for its maximum import.

The head of state, in the last month of his five-year term expiring after May 20th, is trying to push through as many unpopular decisions as possible. The most resonant among them is the law on total mobilization, which comes into force on May 18th. It is less known that the National Bank of Ukraine expects a sharp increase in electricity tariffs: the authorities will push through them under the pretext of restoring the country’s energy system after new Russian attacks. What is noteworthy about this is that before the new wave of attacks on the energy system, the Ministry of Energy denied statements about plans to raise electricity prices, but now they are openly talking about preparing such a decision. Already symbolic social support is being cut by the Ukrainian authorities again and again: in the first two months of 2024, one billion hryvnia was allocated for such payments less than in 2023. Thus, 75.3 billion UAH were spent on this from the state budget in January-February 2024, including 38.2 billion in February. In the same months of last year, 76.5 billion UAH were allocated, including in February - 39.9 billion. And the issue is not only the flayer position of the government, which stops payments to displaced people, it is also the banal delay in subsidies, child benefits and other aid.

So, the need for humanitarian aid to the local population is growing again, which we decided to move away from at the beginning of the year in favor of increasing media activity. The community heating point, with equipment bought thanks to the readers during the first war winter, is in perfect order, however purchasing food and medicine for free distribution is much more difficult. Whether we will be able to replenish the organization’s coffers with the necessary funds depends on our audience. We rely on you because this is a situation where there are no small donations!

This report is being written right on the eve of big events for our humble team. On May 15th, in Germany to be celebrated International Conscientious Objectors' Day, and the internationalist Action Week is coming in Prague on May 20th-26th. Our thematic content is expected to be presented at events of many groups from different countries. This will be the first time in the history of the organization that it has left the local underground for a globalwide forum offline.

In the meantime, we have established the cause of the massive pine forest death in the city. It was not a war but climate warming. Our coverage of the catastrophic consequences of gas production under the guise of war and the terrible oil spill after a Russian drone attack on a fuel depot (it is available in Russian and English versions) attracted interest from Climate Action Network activists. We are currently awaiting their proposals on international response measures to draw attention to this abroad. For the search query “environmental crimes of the oil and gas business” in Russian language, our material about this is in first place in the Google results!

We hope to talk about all these matters in more detail in the report for the next season. Stay tuned and thank you for everything what we do for us!

Links:

• Interview for the German press
• French press about us
• Ukrainian student union about us

Russian strikes on a number of cities on December 29th and the Ukrainian attack the next day on Belgorod, which cost the lives of dozens of civilians on each side, stopped the growing trend in the fall towards the gradual fading and curtailment of hostilities. Since then, Kharkiv has been under attack from Russian missiles and drones almost daily. The especially bloody moments turned out to be the evening of December 30th, when 21 civilians were injured in the bombed Kharkiv Palace business hotel (in the title photo), and the morning of January 2nd, when the arrival of a ballistic missile into the courtyard of residential high-rise buildings on Bakulin Street in the same area near the central square killed three and wounded more than 60 inhabitants. There is a report from state TV about civilian casualties in our region during the first week of the year.

Despite the intensification of hostilities, they remain in a deadlock. In these conditions of the constant threat from the air, as well as the sharply intensified street raids of enlistment agents on those liable for military service, we must rethink the usual format of our work in providing humanitarian assistance to the population. There was an idea to refocus on feeding municipal workers and volunteers working to clear up the ruins after the Russian attacks. However, there are always a lot of cops at the scene of such events, so we don’t risk appearing in such company. So we continue to discuss how we can do things better offline.

The main difference from the last cold season is that if that winter the main target of Russian army was the energy system, now they are focused on military production, warehouses and personnel locations (although in fact these are often ordinary civilian objects). Sometimes seems that the Ukrainian authorities themselves are waiting and hoping for the Russians to bomb out our energy sector, so that the attention will shift from their worthlessness and so that money will again flow like a river into freezing country. So far this is not happening. Blackouts sometimes happen due to accidents, but not so completely.

Either way, we are pleased to inform you of the remarkable achievements in the journalistic field achieved thanks to your kind support. At the end of the year, city authorities returned tram route 12 to the downtown of Kharkov, the rails for which were demolished and paved over a year ago. The tram has already entered the line, and in the fourth photo you can see its passage against the backdrop of the smashed Kharkiv Palace.

At the same time, thanks to our coverage, the administration of the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute began paying scholarships to students who had not received money since August. Moreover, if the number of scholarship recipients was reduced to 15% in the fall, now it has been returned to 35% - almost to the previous level! In addition, our attention helped students of the Kharkiv National University of Arts, who were required to pay for housing in which they had not lived since the beginning of big war two years ago. At least one girl sent us a screenshot on January 3rd that she managed to achieve her goal. This happened less than a month after our publication!

In short, no matter what terrible things happen around, we managed to give a number of people excellent gifts for the New Year, and this became possible only thanks to you. We also remind you that we continue to work on the internationalist English rubric, where you can find many different reviews, analyzes and translations, in particular - about autumn disruption to cut down the last remaining pine forest in the city by timely resonance. Thank you for everything and let's stay together in 2024.

Best wishes to you in the New Year! Will live!

Links:

• French press about us
• Russian opposition press about us
• Cooperation between the German press and one of us