Ukrainian authorities urge refugees not to return and spend winter abroad

Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories has appealed to Ukrainians who left the country and asked them not to return home until spring – essentially saying they should spend the winter abroad. Vereshchuk’s appeal was broadcast during a telethon on the 25th of October.

All because of the mass shelling by the Russian military, which is destroying civilian objects, as well as Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

“I will ask you not to return, we need to survive the winter. Unfortunately, the networks will not stand, you see what Russia is doing. There is no need for that. If there is a possibility to stay, it is better to spend the winter abroad for the time being,” Strana.ua quotes Vereshchuk as saying.

On 22 October, the Russian military again launched a massive strike on energy facilities in Ukraine. Ukrenerho stated that the scale of the damage was comparable to the Russian attacks of 10-12 October, and might have even exceeded them. As reported by the Ukrainian authorities, the massive shelling after October 10 resulted in 30 to 40 percent damage to the country’s energy infrastructure.

The day prior, The Insider released a joint investigation with Bellingcat and Der Spiegel, which revealed who was behind the targeting of missiles at civilian objects in Ukraine for the first time. The investigation discovered a secret unit in the Russian army that determines the flight trajectories for high-precision missiles. The report also identified 30 military engineers, most of them young men and women with IT backgrounds, that were involved in the targeting. The details of their calls confirm the involvement of these specialists in the killing of Ukrainian civilians.