6 million Ukrainian
households are still without power today
following a barrage of Russian missile
strikes on the country's
critical infrastructure.
New satellite images from NASA's show
the extent of the damage.
They really are breathtaking
with Ukraine
almost completely in the dark
compared to the light.
You can see
from its neighboring countries.
But this morning, we're learning
there is some good news
in the capital of Kiev where
water heating and cell
service is now being restored.
Our Clare Sebastian
is following the latest from London.
Clare.
Some progress,
but there are still millions of people
without power
and water
as the weather begins
to turn bitterly cold.
What are you hearing on the ground there?
Yes, we're hearing from the country's
electricity transmission operator
this morning
that about three quarters
of electricity demand is now being met.
That is helped by the fact
that those four nuclear plants,
three of them
in Ukrainian controlled territory,
still are now back online.
They were for the first time in decades
knocked offline at the same time during
that barrage of attacks
that we saw on Wednesday.
There are still restrictions in place.
There are still millions of people
without power, but things are improving.
It was down to about 130,000.
In the capital, Kiev,
we don't have power at the moment.
But the hardship we really got a clear
look at what this
the sort of strategy
by Russia,
these attacks and civilian infrastructure
is doing to people.
Take a look at this picture.
A young girl was photographed
who had to go to a gas station
because she uses a sort of inhaler
breathing equipment
and she needed electricity
to make it work.
This is the kind of thing
that we were seeing.
We also saw doctors
having to perform operations
in the dark
using headlamps
as one hospital in Kiev,
one of Ukraine's
biggest state hospitals
that told us
that they almost had to evacuate patients
when they lost water.
That impedes things
like sterilization,
all kinds of things
in a hospitals that require water.
So that's really
the kind of thing that we're seeing.
They are racing to rebuild.
They are making progress.
But meanwhile, the threat
still remains,
of course, that Russia will continue
with this tactic of attacking civilians.
Frustrated.
The Kremlin said this week
that if Ukraine wants the suffering
to go away,
they have to meet Moscow's demands.
There is no sign
that Ukraine is prepared to do that.
Clare Sebastian in
London, thank you so much.
CNN military analyst
and retired Air Force Colonel
Cedric Leighton is joining us
now this morning.
Good morning, Colonel
Good morning, Sarah.
Let's start with those blackouts
having been in Ukraine
when it's really, really cold,
there is nothing like the cold there.
Let's listen to NATO's secretary
general on Putin's shifting strategy.
Nine months now into this invasion,
what we see now is that President
Putin is trying to weaponize winter
and by indiscriminate,
deliberate attacks on the
cities on civilian infrastructure,
he tries to deprive
the Ukrainians of gas, heating the water.
Weaponizing winter
is a great way to put it.
How do you fight an enemy
that's now
specifically targeting
civilian infrastructure,
making civilians suffer?
Yeah, that's
one of the most difficult things
is that you have to really look
at how you defend
the major centers, the major
population centers.
The key issue that the Ukrainians have is
there are so many things
they have to defend.
And the Russians
have a lot of targets to choose from.
The fact that they have all these targets
to choose from
makes it so hard to defend against.
And what they're doing is
instead of hitting major power centers,
which they're doing,
they're also going ahead
and they're going after transmission
lines, transformers, things like that.
And so everything
localized attack
that they make affects local areas.
And when you add that up,
then you get the blackout scenes
that you see from Kiev.
And other cities in Ukraine.
So it's a very difficult thing
for the Ukrainians to defend against.
They've done a remarkable job
given what they have.
But frankly, they
it more needs to be done and more help
is to be provided that
the UN's nuclear watchdog has started
providing support
to four more nuclear
power plants in Ukraine.
After they were disconnected
from the grid.
There is a huge fear.
I remember feeling that fear very vividly
when we heard
about the takeover of the zapped
freezer plant
that has been badly damaged.
Is there any fear that he will go
that far
and try to create a nuclear disaster?
There certainly is a fear
that he could weaponized the
he Putin could weaponize
these nuclear power plants.
And the way he would do that
is potentially use them
as a dirty bomb, in essence,
a huge dirty bomb.
He's done
that with his original plant
by occupying it.
The other plants would be
a bit more difficult for him to control
because Putin does not
his forces do not occupy them.
They're in Ukrainian hands
But if they are struck in a certain way,
if their cooling mechanisms,
for example,
are destroyed or impacted in any way.
And the backup diesel
generators are huge,
then that could very well
spell a major problem for the Ukrainians.
And another thing to keep in mind,
the nuclear power plant,
a very important in Ukraine,
because the country
gets about 55% of its energy
from those plants
and that that that makes them
a major target for the Russians
and their campaign.
All right.
Let's go ahead and talk about
air defense now
and the risk of escalation.
Germany offered Poland
Patriot air defense units after
a stray missile hit
Poland and killed
a couple of its citizens there.
Poland has declined, saying
they should be sent to Ukraine
instead now.
We now know the U.S.
has said that they believe
that that missile came out of Ukraine
trying to defend itself against Russia.
But NATO's secretary general says
all Eastern NATO's allies
should be girding their defenses.
Let's listen to this
We need both increased in defense
of our NATO allies in the east
and the Baltic countries,
Poland, Romania, but also we need
we need more air defense
in eastern Ukraine. That's obvious.
We see the horrendous,
horrific attacks every day against
civilian infrastructure in cities
in Ukraine.
And therefore,
we need to help Ukraine
being able
to shoot down those incoming
Russian missiles and and drones
So if NATO's
allies start
beefing up their their military
readiness, if you will, they're hardware
like air defenses.
Is this something that might escalate
a conflict or will it give Russia pause
Well, the Russians would look at it as
being an escalation.
However, it would be a necessary step
because an integrated air defense system
is specifically an integrated
air and missile defense system,
as mentioned
not only by Secretary
General Stoltenberg,
but also the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, General Milley.
Those weapons systems
are really defensive in nature.
And what they do is they do the best job
that's currently
technologically available to protect
not only the infrastructure
the critical infrastructure,
but civilian institutions as well.
And so that's the kind of thing
that you want.
You want the Patriot missile
defense systems.
You want
a system known
as a risk to you
that the Germans have delivered one of.
They've got three more
on the way to Ukraine.
Those are the kinds of things
that can help protect the cities
and help prevent
the kinds of blackouts
that we're seeing in Kiev
and throughout the country.
You know,
the country is suffering so, so greatly.
This winter especially.
Colonel Cedric Leighton,
thank you so much.
We appreciate your time.
You bet.
At any time, Sara.