美国国家公共电台 NPR--How Russia is weaponizing the Ukrainian winter

How Russia is weaponizing the Ukrainian winter

IZIUM, Ukraine — The gas line was punctured¹ by shrapnel. Plastic sheets now hang where the windows were. A single electric heat lamp is all there is to keep the home from freezing.

Halyna Zahorodnikh, who is 71, wears layers of fleece in the apartment to stay warm.

She is one of millions of Ukrainians facing a winter that's essentially² being weaponized against them.

Russia's systematic³ and repeated attacks on Ukraine's energy and heating infrastructure⁴ — the latest of which involved the heaviest missile strikes in a nearly nine-month war — have led to regular power outages in some of the country's largest cities.

In smaller towns like Izium, where Zahorodnikh has lived all her life, electricity is intermittent⁵ and constantly threatened by the type of long-range missile and drone strikes that have become common over the last two months of Russia's war on Ukraine.

Following last week's widespread attacks, almost half the country's energy system has been disabled, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a meeting with the European Commission Friday. "Russia is trying to compensate⁶ for the losses on the battlefield with missile attacks on civilian⁷ critical infrastructure," he said.

Ukraine's energy ministry⁸ has been trying to repair damaged infrastructure as quickly as it can.

"Russia tries to destroy all of the energy supply chains. Generating facilities — especially thermal⁹ power plants — distribution systems and power lines," the energy ministry said in a written statement to NPR before the most recent attacks.

The attacks have left residents and businesses scrambling¹⁰ for gas-powered generators¹² and firewood. Nonprofit aid organizations, the United Nations and Western allies have started to include winter clothing, thick blankets and heating equipment in shipments to the country.

"Should there be large-scale outages for long periods of time, we simply do not have the resources to provide people in need with the assistance they will need," says Marysia Zapasnik, the International Rescue Committee's Ukraine director. "The humanitarian¹⁴ situation will become much more dire¹³ than it is now."

The electrical heat lamp warming Zahorodnikh's living room was given to her by an aid organization. Donated blankets line her bed. She plans to stay for winter.

And if she loses power?

"I don't know," she says, with a stubborn smile. "Maybe I'll burn my books."

Russia targets Ukraine's ability to move energy

Russia has attacked Ukraine's heating and electrical infrastructure since the start of its nearly nine-month invasion.

As early as June, Ukraine's energy minister, German Galushchenko, told NPR that Russia was looking to weaponize the coming heating season with attacks on energy resources and facilities.

Many of Russia's early strikes, Galushchenko said, were aimed at power generating sources — thermal coal and gas plants. Russia also continues to occupy the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine — and all of Europe — in the country's south. Ukraine gets roughly 60% of its energy from nuclear power stations.

As of late October, the energy ministry says, Russian attacks have damaged about 40% of the country's thermal generation. Ninety percent of its wind power and more than 40% percent of its solar energy sources were either under occupation or damaged.

Many of Russia's more recent attacks have targeted the distribution systems, says DTEK, Ukraine's largest private power generator¹¹.

"These actions cannot be called anything other than energy terrorism and a brutal¹⁵ attempt to create a humanitarian disaster right in the center of Europe," DTEK says in a statement.

Attacks on substations and transformers limit Ukraine's ability to move power around and also its ability to import energy from Europe. They're also harder targets to defend against long-range attacks, says Oleksandr Kharchenko, the director of the Energy Research Center in Kyiv.

"I believe that Ukraine has enough [electrical] generation capacity," says Kharchenko. "Generation capacity has been better defended from the start of this war. But substations — there are a lot of them. It's not possible to cover each of them by special air defense¹⁶ [systems]."

Ukraine races to repair its electrical grid¹⁷

In a small village east of Kharkiv, where the sounds of artillery¹⁸ and tanks can still be heard like distant thunder, Mykhailo Voinov opens the metal door of a damaged electrical substation. A thumb-sized gash¹⁹, from shrapnel, mars the door.

Voinov is an electrician who's been fixing damaged Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

"There's a lot of damage from shrapnel, but this one is the worst," he says, reaching into the substation and tapping on its main component²⁰, a ribbed cylinder-shaped transformer. It's empty, he points out. The oil from it drained through a hole from the shrapnel.

Fixing this one substation will cost thousands of dollars, Voinov says. Transformers, conductors and other components²¹ for electrical substations are in short supply. His team often has to wait weeks for equipment before they can make repairs, he says.

"Repair crews are working 24/7, without a day off, to minimize the length of emergency power outages," Ukraine's energy ministry says. Still, authorities are urging residents to conserve²² electricity, as much of the population prepares for a long winter with regular outages.

Voinov is among them. In a small village where his family owns a dacha, a summer cottage, power is expected to be out for months. Only a few residents, including Oleksandr Lysytskyi and his wife, Svitalana Maliarova, remain.

A crater²³ from a Russian artillery shell that landed in their yard is filled with broken glass. They buried one of their dogs in another, Lysytskyi says.

Since Russian troops were driven out of the area in mid-September, Lysytskyi says, he's been trying to prepare his house for the coming winter. They're boarding up broken windows with plywood or covering them with plastic sheets provided by the United Nations.

A wood-fire boiler²⁴ provides his home with heat. The wood, he says quietly, he's been collecting from the mine-riddled woods behind their house.

Lysytskyi and his family remained in this small village throughout Russia's occupation. They'll stay, he says, through the approaching winter.

Millions of Ukrainians are expected to turn to firewood to heat their homes

Wood-burning stoves and boilers²⁵, like the kind Lysytskyi is depending on, have been in high demand across Ukraine. They're now so hard to buy that territorial²⁶ defense units have taken to creating stoves by welding sheets of metal, for soldiers who will spend the winter in front-line positions.

The increased reliance on firewood has raised concerns from some environmental groups in Ukraine. Deforestation of the country's rich woodlands was a concern even before Russia's full-scale invasion. Last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy launched a Green Country Project, aimed at reforesting parts of the country with a million trees.

Since Russia's invasion, Ukraine's environment ministry has sent warnings to the public, making it clear that unpermitted logging is punishable by fines.

The need to protect undamaged forests is paramount²⁷, says Ruslan Strilets, the environment minister. "Because of the trenches²⁸, the explosions and fires," he says. "One-third of Ukrainian woodland has been damaged by war."

Strilets believes illegal logging won't be a major issue for the country over the winter — in part because the government has expanded a program to provide civilians²⁹ with firewood to meet increased demand.

The state-run program gives residents the opportunity to buy up to roughly 530 cubic feet of firewood for the upcoming heating season. The government has more than doubled the amount of wood available for purchase, Strilets says, in anticipation³⁰ of the increased need.

There are logistical issues to overcome though. Civilians need to be able to afford the firewood — a problem with the increased cost of everyday goods, like food and medicine. There are also concerns about delivery — how firewood will be transported to hard-hit places like Izium.

Bridges, roads and railways have been damaged across Ukraine and many people aren't prepared to navigate³¹ the bureaucratic³² process of getting wood purchased and delivered, says a resident of Izium, in far northeastern Ukraine. He prefers not to give his name because he's been illegally collecting wood for neighbors.

The man, a writer before the war, has been organizing other men to supply residents of the heavily damaged town with firewood. He's been collecting it in a burnt and torn woodland that the Russians had been using, before being driven out, as an ammunition³³ storage site west of town.

"These trees will be cut down," he says, standing³⁴ among spent Russian artillery shells. "The government will hire people and pay for this, but so far they haven't decided³⁵ what to do and we have the chance to cut this wood for people who need it, and take it to them."

The work is dangerous. Unexploded ordnance³⁶ litters the ground. Jagged metal is buried in the soft dirt. A local official tells NPR it will take years to demine the woodland, where residents like the man logging used to collect mushrooms.

Asked if he's worried about being fined or stepping on an explosive, the logger laughs.

"I think freezing temperatures are scarier than forestry³⁷."

1 punctured   

v.在（某物）上穿孔( puncture的过去式和过去分词 )；刺穿（某物）；削弱（某人的傲气、信心等）；泄某人的气

参考例句：

• Some glass on the road punctured my new tyre. 路上的玻璃刺破了我的新轮胎。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A nail on the road punctured the tyre. 路上的钉子把车胎戳穿了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

3 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

4 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

5 intermittent   

adj.间歇的，断断续续的

参考例句：

• Did you hear the intermittent sound outside?你听见外面时断时续的声音了吗？
• In the daytime intermittent rains freshened all the earth.白天里，时断时续地下着雨，使整个大地都生气勃勃了。

6 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

7 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

8 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

9 thermal   

adj.热的，由热造成的；保暖的

参考例句：

• They will build another thermal power station.他们要另外建一座热能发电站。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

10 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

12 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

14 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

15 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

16 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

17 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

18 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

19 gash   

v.深切，划开；n.(深长的)切(伤)口；裂缝

参考例句：

• The deep gash in his arm would take weeks to heal over.他胳膊上的割伤很深，需要几个星期的时间才能痊愈。
• After the collision,the body of the ship had a big gash.船被撞后，船身裂开了一个大口子。

20 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

21 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

22 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

23 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

24 boiler   

n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等)

参考例句：

• That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
• This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。

25 boilers   

锅炉，烧水器，水壶( boiler的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Even then the boilers often burst or came apart at the seams. 甚至那时的锅炉也经常从焊接处爆炸或裂开。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• The clean coal is sent to a crusher and the boilers. 干净的煤送入破碎机和锅炉。

26 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

27 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

28 trenches   

深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕

参考例句：

• life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
• The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

29 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

30 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

31 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

32 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

33 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

34 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

35 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

36 ordnance   

n.大炮，军械

参考例句：

• She worked in an ordnance factory during the war.战争期间她在一家兵工厂工作。
• Shoes and clothing for the army were scarce,ordnance supplies and drugs were scarcer.军队很缺鞋和衣服，武器供应和药品就更少了。

37 forestry   

n.森林学；林业

参考例句：

• At present, the Chinese forestry is being at a significant transforming period. 当前, 我国的林业正处于一个重大的转折时期。
• Anhua is one of the key forestry counties in Hunan province. 安化县是湖南省重点林区县之一。