By Manal Abdel Fattah
With another new day, another attack with Russian missiles, guided bombs, and drones takes place on Ukrainian territory, so that Kharkov, Sumy, Zaporizhya, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Odessa have become the talk of the world, as Putin tries to wipe Ukrainian territory off the face of the earth, kill civilians, and bring tragedies and suffering.
The Russian President and representatives of the Russian government have been, and still are, stating that the Ukrainian people are an artificially created nation and that those who do not share this opinion “should be killed.” In their opinion, Ukraine and the Ukrainian people should not exist in the future.
These statements are echoed by Kremlin journalists, public figures, and Russian propagandists who call for drowning Ukrainian children, burning Ukrainians in their homes, and raping Ukrainian women of all ages.
Russian state television broadcasts statements by state officials that Ukrainians should either be assimilated or de-Russified, and those for whom it does not work should simply be killed, as well as calls to kill millions of civilians and drop bombs on Ukrainian cities. Thus, before the eyes of the whole world, Russia and Putin are moving more and more towards fascism.
The intense strikes on Ukraine have increased significantly since March, so that Russia is constantly changing and modifying its tactics, currently targeting energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine.
As a result of the recent Russian strikes, the Ukrainian energy system suffered losses of at least 100 million euros. Overall, the total damage to the Ukrainian energy system due to Russian bombing amounted to more than 11 billion euros as of March of this year.
Russia seeks not only to cut off electricity, but also to destroy thermal generating facilities in order to significantly complicate the upcoming heating season in Ukraine.
Today, the Ukrainian electricity sector has lost at least 50% of its generation capacity and 20% of its distribution capacity. Some facilities, namely power plants and transformers, can be repaired within six months and others can be repaired within several years.
In any case, the population and economy will face a severe shortage of energy capacities in the coming fall-winter period of 2024-2025, which in turn could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe on the eve of winter.
Two years after the comprehensive Russian invasion, 14.6 million people in Ukraine need humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations, equivalent to 40% of the Ukrainian population, including 45% women, 23% children, and 15% people with special needs, which indicates that the actions of… Criminal Kremlin leads to humanitarian crises.
In this regard, the Russians’ destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station comes to mind, which caused problems related to the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene for about 11 million Ukrainians.
Under these circumstances, the question arises: Should people face such problems in the twenty-first century?
There is no doubt that Putin wants to destroy the energy sector and the outbreak of a subsequent humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, which will lead to the largest wave of refugees since the end of World War II abroad, primarily to the countries of the European Union so that the number of refugees could range from 5 to 10 million.person.
So, will all EU members be able to absorb this large number of new immigrants?
Ukraine is just a secondary target for the Kremlin.
The West has begun to realize this to the point that European diplomacy chief Josep Borrell warned that Europe must prepare for a possible war, saying that a large-scale conflict on the continent outside Ukraine “is no longer a fantasy” and that Russia threatens Europe.
The Kremlin seeks to inflict civilizational defeat on a united West. As for Europe, from Putin’s point of view, it must be defeated, humiliated, and turned into a subservient to Russia.
Therefore, reconsidering the Russian threat along with increasing military, humanitarian and financial assistance to Ukraine is, first and foremost, a matter of the survival of the EU and NATO and the well-being of everyone in the world.
