World Tour: Ukrainian blackouts may mean a rough winter

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with Onize Ohikere, our reporter in Abuja, Nigeria.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Kyiv blackouts — We start today in Ukraine’s capital, where residents are bracing for a rough winter.

KLITSCHKO: Speaking in Ukrainian.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said residents might spend parts of the coming winter without heat, electricity, or water if Russia continues to target critical energy infrastructure.

KLITSCHKO: Speaking in Ukrainian.

He says here authorities are doing everything possible to prevent an energy blackout. But they can’t rule out the possibility.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said 4.5 million people are without electricity in the country.

Authorities have started rolling blackouts across different regions. Kyiv also plans to deploy about 1,000 heating stations .. but it’s unclear if that would be sufficient for the city’s three million residents.

Moldova energy crisis — We head over to neighboring Moldova, where a severe energy crisis is also worsening ahead of winter.

Gas prices in the small republic squeezed between Romania and Ukraine have already increased by sixfold.

Ukraine provided 30 percent of the country’s gas supply, but Russian attacks halted all exports. Moldova relied on the pro-Russia breakaway region of Transnistria for the remaining 70 percent, but that has also stopped.

NATS: Bottles in a brewery

The Moldovan government has urged businesses to change their hours to off-peak times.

One brewery owner says his company now works in two shifts.

SOT: Speaking Romanian

He says his monthly electricity bill is now three times more than what it was.

The government has also asked towns to switch off street lights and encouraged households to limit their consumption.

Syria camp strike — Next, to Syria, where a government rocket strike on rebel-held territory has killed at least 10 civilians.

NATS: Emergency teams

More than 30 rockets exploded across the rebel-controlled northwestern province of Idlib.

The strikes hit makeshift camps for displaced people. The dead include three children. About 75 other people also sustained injuries.

Abu Hamid is a displaced Syrian who was staying at one of the affected camps.

He said they first heard the explosions before children started yelling “rockets.”

HAMID: Speaking Arabic

He says here that shrapnel flew over their heads and left people with nowhere to take cover.

Idlib is the last major rebel-held region in Syria. About 3 million people reside there, half of them displaced residents.

Ghana protests— We wrap up today in Ghana.

NATS: Protesters chanting

Hundreds of protesters dressed in red marched through the capital city of Accra over the weekend.

Some held up placards calling for President Nana Akufo-Addo to step down. Others chanted “IMF no” - a reference to the government’s ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.

Ghana’s currency has lost more than 40 percent of its value against the dollar this year. Consumer inflation also rose above 37 percent back in September.

Last month, some shop owners closed down their stores to protest the rising cost of living.

Carlos Adams showed up in a red t-shirt for the protests.

ADAMS: Our economy is in a ditch. You cannot buy a gallon of petrol. A bag of maize cannot be bought so three square meals now is a problem.

Akufo-Addo has vowed to work to get the country’s finances back on track.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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