NOVEMBER 24: The lights from the same cities appear to only be dim imitations of how they were ten months earlier on February 24. On the map, Ukraine appears to be a large, dark space in the middle of brightly lit countries, with only small specks of light
Strikes on Wednesday left multiple people dead, disconnected three Ukrainian nuclear plants automatically from the national grid and even provoked blackouts in neighbouring Moldova, whose energy network is linked to Ukraine.
Such attacks have forced millions of people to go without light, water or heating for hours or days at a time, just as outdoor temperatures fall below freezing.
Comment: The following images provide a comparison showing the light sources in Ukraine on 24th November 2021, and on the right on the same date in 2022:
These remarkable satellite images show how Ukraine was plunged into almost complete darkness following the latest brutal wave of Russian missiles
Using a NASA satellite tool, it is possible to compare what Ukraine looked like from space at night before Vladimir Putin's February 24 invasion, and what it looks like today - ten months on - and after the latest round of missile strikes.
The difference could not be more stark. What was once a bustling European city has been plunged into darkness by war, with the lights of its cities either dimmed or extinguished thanks to Moscow's unrelenting, indiscriminate strikes.
Comment: The incredibly low civilian casualty count throughout Russia's special operation stands as a testament to how these strikes are extremely precise and attempt to conserve the lives of the innocent, even to the detriment of the Russian army.
The satellite image taken of February 24 shows Ukraine's major population centres - including Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Khariv - brightly lit with white light and easily visible from space, as is the case with its European neighbours.
In the image taken on November 24, however, the lights from the same cities appear to only be dim imitations of how they were almost a year earlier. On the map, Ukraine appears to be a large, dark space in the middle of other brightly lit countries.
Only the capital Kyiv - home to almost three million people - stands out, and is still far dimmer than it was on February 24. Lviv, Ukraine's major city in the West and thus farthest from the conflict, can also be seen.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine's east, where the fighting has been fiercest, it appears to be in total blackout - devoid of almost any light from the previously thriving cities.
Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Khariv are totally invisible. Mariupol, which was totally levelled by Russian missiles in the early stages of the war and is still occupied by Putin's soldiers, is also gone from the image.
This is contrasted with Moscow to the north-east, which can be seen in the satellite image shining brighter than all other cities in the region.
Other large population centres, such as Warsaw in Poland to the West, or Minsk in Belarus to the north, also shine brightly in the satellite image when compared to Kyiv and Ukraine's other major cities.
On Thursday, Ukraine was struggling to to repair its battered power and water services after cruise missiles hit its power grid and temperatures plunged.
The Ukrainian energy system is on the brink of collapse and millions have been subjected to emergency blackouts for weeks due to systematic Russian bombardments of the grid.
The World Health Organisation has warned of 'life-threatening' consequences and estimated that millions could leave their homes as a result.
Comment: The WHO aren't warning of the 'life-threatening' consequences over the looming blackouts threatening the rest of Europe: UK's National Grid sparks panic by warning of imminent blackouts but then cancels
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said more than two-thirds of the capital was still cut off on Thursday despite municipal workers in Kyiv restoring some water service overnight.
'Seventy percent of the capital remains without electricity,' Klitschko said. 'Energy companies are making every effort to return it as soon as possible,' he added.
Ukraine's military accused Russian forces of firing around 70 cruise missiles at targets across the country on Wednesday and of deploying attack drones.
Comment: This is the same Ukrainian military that just a week ago claimed to be 'winning' the war, that claimed to be neutralising the vast majority of these air strikes; the same Nazi-aligned military that has been shelling Europe's largest nuclear power, and that actually had the arrogance to film itself taunting, torturing, and murdering Russian POWs.
Moscow's targeting of Ukrainian power facilities is their latest strategy hoping to force capitulation after nine months of war that has seen Russian forces fail in most of their stated territorial objectives.
At least 10 people were killed in Wednesday's strikes, including a newborn baby who was killed when a Russian missile destroyed a maternity ward in the city of Vilniansk, in Ukraine's central Zaporizhzhia region.
Comment: Russia has not and does not target civilian infrastructure. Most of these claims either turn out to be propaganda, or that the missile was actually Ukraine's; as was the case with the missile that crossed the border into Poland and killed two people.
Since Russia's invasion began on February 24, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has registered 703 attacks on Ukrainian healthcare infrastructure. Putin's forces have been accused of carrying out numerous war crimes.
Comment: These were healthcare facilities, however since the start of the conflict Ukraine turned them into military installations.
Ukraine's energy ministry said that all three nuclear facilities had been reconnected by Thursday morning.
The governor of Kharkiv region - home to the country's second largest city - said the city was suffering electricity supply issues and 'emergency power shutdowns'.
The head of the central region of Poltava, Dmytro Lunin, said authorities were 'working around the clock to restore power'.
'In the coming hours, we will start supplying energy to critical infrastructure and then to the majority of households,' Lunin said.
Comment: We'll see; because the satellite photos don't lie (for now anyway!).
About 50 percent of central Dnipropetrovsk region had electricity, governor Valentyn Reznichenko said.
'The energy supply situation is complicated. So shutdowns will continue in the region to reduce the pressure on the grid as much as possible,' Reznichenko warned.
Repair work was ongoing elsewhere, including in the Rivne, Cherkasy, Kirovograd and Zhytomyr regions, officials said.
If the decanter had been filled with petroleum & then a match was inadvertently lit nearby, the result would have been much funnier...😺