Ukrainians braced for a winter with little or no power in several areas including Kyiv where temperatures have already dropped below freezing as relentless Russian strikes crippled half of the country’s energy capacity. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged residents of Kyiv and several other areas to limit electricity use.

LIFE IN UKRAINE
* Ukrainians are most likely to live with blackouts at least until the end of March, the head of a major energy provider said.

* Zelenskiy said half of the country’s power capacity had been knocked out by Russian rockets.
* As they head into a cold winter, residents of a bombed-out Ukrainian village say they appreciate a warm bath in a mural painted by graffiti artist Banksy. The mural shows a man scrubbing his back in a bathtub.
CONFLICT

* There are no immediate nuclear safety or security concerns at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine despite shelling at the weekend that caused widespread damage, the U.N. atomic watchdog said after its experts toured the site.

* Zelenskiy urged NATO members on Monday to guarantee the protection of Ukraine’s nuclear plants from Russian sabotage.

* “Stock up on warm clothes, blankets, think about options that will help you wait a long outage,” said Sergey Kovalenko, the head of YASNO, which provides energy for Kyiv.
* Moscow and Kyiv both blamed the other for the shelling of the facility.
* Russia’s leading war hawks rallied behind the decision for Moscow’s forces to retreat from the Ukrainian city of Kherson this month, but the commander who argued in favour of the move is now under growing pressure to prove it was worth it.

* The Kremlin said it was not discussing calling up more Russian soldiers to fight in Ukraine through a second round of mobilisation.

WAR CRIMES ACCUSATIONS
* Ukrainian police and prosecutors have identified four places in Kherson where they suspect Russian forces tortured people before abandoning the city, the prosecutor general’s office said.
* The United States is monitoring allegations that Ukrainian forces summarily executed Russian troops. Russia’s defence ministry on Friday cited videos circulating on social media that allegedly showed Ukrainian soldiers executing Russian prisoners of war. The Kremlin said it would bring to justice those responsible.

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