KYIV: Emergency crews toiled to restore heat and power to beleaguered Kyiv residents on Monday, more than three days after Russian strikes on energy targets, and President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that new air attacks could be imminent.
Officials said hundreds of apartment blocks in the capital remained without heat despite round-the-clock efforts by the crews. Humanitarian centers, dubbed “resilience points,” were open for people to keep warm and charge electronic devices.
Russia has systematically attacked Ukraine’s energy system since it invaded its neighbor in 2022 and the air strikes have intensified in recent months.
Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, said a program was being launched to raise wages and provide support for participants in emergency work brigades.
He issued a new warning to heed air raid alerts as night-time temperatures sank to minus 15 Celsius (5 F) or lower.
“There is intelligence information. The Russians are preparing a new massive strike,” he said.
“Drones to exhaust air defense systems and missiles. They want to take advantage of the cold. The strike may occur in the coming days. Please take care of yourselves. Protect Ukraine.”
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba, writing on Telegram, said 90 percent of Kyiv’s apartment buildings have had heating restored, leaving fewer than 500 dwellings still to be connected.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko put the number with no heating at 800, most on the west bank of the Dnipro River. He said a meeting of the Kyiv city council would be convened on Thursday to debate the most pressing issues facing residents.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, presenting the program for bonus payments, said the work conducted by emergency crews stood “at the very limit of human endurance, often involving life-threatening risks across the entire country.
“This applies to specialists who, in freezing conditions, go directly to the sites of strikes and restore supplies of heat, electricity, water and gas.”
Residents made their way to one of the humanitarian centers on the east bank of the river in the evening — two tents pitched on a small area of open ground.
They charged their devices and chatted, while outside, the din of whining generators filled the air.
“It’s dark in the apartment. I have an electric stove, so it’s impossible to heat up lunch or dinner, or make tea,” said Kateryna Zubko, 67, an engineer who has lived without power, heating and water since the latest attack.
“We support each other. Ukrainians are such resilient people, I think that this war will end someday, it can’t go on forever.”
Ukraine toils to restore power and heat, Zelensky warns of new attack
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Ukraine toils to restore power and heat, Zelensky warns of new attack
- Russia has systematically attacked Ukraine’s energy system since it invaded its neighbor in 2022 and the air strikes have intensified in recent months
Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations
- The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization
- “These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence,” Rubio said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye.
The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which US officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.
Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the US, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.
“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkiye, he said.
Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the US but also Western European countries and Canada.
“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.
Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.
