Lviv braces for cold times as Putin seeks to weaponise winter

Smoke rises over power lines in Lviv after Russian missile strikes on the city’s electricity substations. Photograph: Pavlo Palamarchuk/Reuters

There was scant attempt to sugarcoat the assessment. With the trams stilled, lights going down across the city and the mobile network intermittent, arguably there was little point in doing otherwise.

“We have to brace ourselves for hard times,” said Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv, as he addressed local and international journalists in a building off the western Ukrainian city’s cobbled Rynok Square.