KYIV: Kyiv residents huddled against bitter winter cold inside their unheated apartments on Saturday as engineers struggled to restore power, water and heat knocked out in the latest salvo of Russian strikes.
Russia has regularly conducted intense bombardments of Ukraine’s energy system since it invaded its neighbor in 2022.
The war’s fourth winter could be the coldest and darkest yet, with the accumulated damage to the grid bringing utilities to the brink, and temperatures already below minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 F) and set to plunge further this week.
On Saturday, Kyiv’s heat, power and water, hit hard by a strike two nights earlier, were shut down again as engineers tried to repair the ruined power grid.
Galina Turchin, a 71-year-old pensioner living on Kyiv’s badly affected eastern bank, had a window covered by plastic sheeting after it was blown out when drone debris hit another part of her building during the last overnight attack.
She said she had not cooked food for two days, eating whatever had been left in their kitchen before the power, water and heat went out, and would now try to cook on a gas camping stove.
“We hope they will give us heat. If not power, then at least heat,” she said, standing wrapped in layers of jumpers in her kitchen.
The city administration said around noon local time (1000 GMT) on Saturday that the state grid operator Ukrenergo had ordered the city’s power system to be shut down, and that the water and heating systems, as well as electrified public transport, would also stop working as a result.
Less than an hour later, Ukrenergo said engineers had managed to remedy the immediate issue, which had been caused by damage from previous Russian strikes, and that power was coming back online in parts of Kyiv.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the heating system, which in Ukrainian cities is centralized and pumps hot water to homes in pipes, was also coming back on, and that she expected heat supply to be fully restored on Saturday.
However, she said that the power situation in the capital was still difficult, as the grid was badly damaged and people were using more electric heaters because of the cold.
On Friday, with about half of Kyiv’s apartment blocks left without heating after the latest Russian missile and drone attack, Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged residents who had a warm place to go to temporarily leave the city.
Turchin, the pensioner in her cold apartment, said she had a village cottage in another region but it was unheated and would take three days to warm up with logs.
“The neighbor wrote. She said it was already minus 17 (Celsius) there last night.”
Winter pierces Kyiv homes after Russia knocks out heat
https://arab.news/5h4nw
Winter pierces Kyiv homes after Russia knocks out heat
- The war’s fourth winter could be the coldest and darkest yet
- On Saturday, Kyiv’s heat, power and water, hit hard by a strike two nights earlier, were shut down again
Britain needs ‘AI stress tests’ for financial services, lawmakers say
- Lawmakers urge AI-specific stress tests for financial firms
LONDON: Britain’s financial watchdogs are not doing enough to stop artificial intelligence from harming consumers or destabilising markets, a cross-party group of lawmakers said on Tuesday, urging regulators to move away from what it called a “wait and see” approach.
In a report on AI in financial services, the Treasury Committee said the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England should start running AI-specific stress tests to help firms prepare for market shocks triggered by automated systems.
The committee also called on the FCA to publish detailed guidance by the end of 2026 on how consumer protection rules apply to AI, and on the extent to which senior managers should be expected to understand the systems they oversee.
“Based on the evidence I’ve seen, I do not feel confident that our financial system is prepared if there was a major AI-related incident and that is worrying,” committee chair Meg Hillier said in a statement.
TECHNOLOGY CARRIES ‘SIGNIFICANT RISKS’
A race among banks to adopt agentic AI, which unlike generative AI can make decisions and take autonomous action, runs new risks for retail customers, the FCA told Reuters late last year.
About three-quarters of UK financial firms now use AI. Companies are deploying the technology across core functions, from processing insurance claims to performing credit assessments.
While the report acknowledged the benefits of AI, it warned the technology also carried “significant risks” including opaque credit decisions, the potential exclusion of vulnerable consumers through algorithmic tailoring, fraud, and the spread of unregulated financial advice through AI chatbots.
Experts contributing to the report also highlighted threats to financial stability, pointing to the reliance on a small group of US tech giants for AI and cloud services. Some also noted that AI-driven trading systems may amplify herding behavior in markets, risking a financial crisis in a worst-case scenario.
An FCA spokesperson said the regulator welcomed the focus on AI and would review the report. The regulator has previously indicated it does not favor AI-specific rules due to the pace of technological change.
The BoE did not respond to a request for comment.
Hillier told Reuters that increasingly sophisticated forms of generative AI were influencing financial decisions. “If something has gone wrong in the system, that could have a very big impact on the consumer,” she said.
Separately, Britain’s finance ministry appointed Starling Bank CIO Harriet Rees and Lloyds Banking Group ‘s Rohit Dhawan as “AI Champions” to help steer AI adoption in financial services.
