Electricity and heating fail: In Vishgorod, the blackout is already real

Created: 11/24/2022, 10:08 am

By: Hans Kurzl

During a power outage, you can only eat with the gas cooker: Many people in Eichenau's partner community of Wischgorod are currently feeling the same way as this Ukrainian woman.

symbol photo: DPA © Andrew Kravchenko

In Germany, most people are afraid of the next service charge bill and an imminent blackout.

In Ukraine, where war is raging, it is already a reality that electricity and heating no longer work as usual.

Eichenau – How the people in Eichenau's twin town of Wischgorod prepare for the winter and how they are doing in general knows Eichenau's partnership officer Claus Guttenthaler (FW).

How is the current military situation perceived in Vishgorod?

At the moment there is a positive mood, because the successes in the liberation of Cherson give a boost to good morale.

Almost every one of my contacts is convinced that Ukraine will win this war of aggression by Russia, which violates international law, with the support of the West.

Everyone sees Ukraine in a position to wage a proxy war and therefore considers aid from Europe, the US and the rest of the world to be a moral obligation.

The city of Vishgorod itself shows hardly any damage, but in the rayon (like the district, editor's note), several villages were under Russian occupation for months.

There one has to contend with the destruction of houses, roads and other infrastructure.

Winter is coming.

Will the energy supply or the cold be the bigger problem in Ukraine?

After 40 to 50 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure was destroyed by the Russian terrorist attacks, everyone is worried about both the power supply and the heating options.

The local city, rayon and energy companies are doing everything they can to repair electricity and gas lines and offer people a future.

How bad are the power outages?

Electricity is currently rationed.

This means that there are regular hourly power outages as scheduled.

There are also longer-term total failures again and again.

Voluntary organizations such as the Red Cross and the churches manufacture field stoves, provide heating tents and charging infrastructure for mobile phones and power banks and help to provide people with food.

What can people do here?

What is the greatest help for the people of Vishgorod and the city now?

Eichenau is currently organizing the delivery of several large generators, supported by the Rotary Club Solln and the Vischgorod Association in Eichenau.

There will also be winter clothing that comes from the fundraiser in spring.

Donations are also used to procure specifically needed aids that are requested by the administration and voluntary organizations.

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As a partnership officer, how intensively do you organize contact with Ukraine?

Claus Guttenthaler © Barbara Neider

The network according to Vishgorod includes contacts by telephone, WhatsApp, Messenger, Telegram to the administration, voluntary aid services such as the Red Cross and the churches, but also to a whole range of private individuals.

I've known some of them for decades because they lived in Eichenau and studied in Munich.

Others who came to Eichenau as a result of the flight movement in March and April and some have already returned, and friends whom I have met through accompanying aid transports and transporting the fire brigade vehicles several times.

All these contacts give a fairly clear picture of the living conditions and personal situation.

The most important thing is always the moral support through interest in the life situation, personal contact and the affirmation that

You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.

Are personal visits to Ukraine beneficial?

Will you travel to Vishgorod as a partnership officer?

As long as Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which is contrary to international law, is not over and the threat of aggression against civilian targets throughout the country persists, a trip to Vishgorod as a sign of solidarity is difficult to imagine.

The resources can be better used for the delivery of relief supplies and efforts to improve the living situation.

Peace in Ukraine – currently a pious wish?

Ukraine, caused by the Russian war of aggression, also defends the political and moral values ​​of all of us.

Assistance in this area, but also further support in the military context, are prerequisites for an end to aggression by Russia.

We must not abandon Ukraine and Russia must not win this war.

Reporting must constantly point out that people are being killed, injured and expelled here every day, in violation of international law, and that a European country is being systematically destroyed and culture wiped out.

If there is unity in the world that a sovereign state and its people must not be destroyed, but everything must be done to defend them, then there can be peace for Ukraine.

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