内容摘要：Zelensky said in his speech on Wednesday that Russia had destroyed all of Ukraine’s thermal power plants and a large part of its hydroelectric capacity as a way to “torment” Ukrainians ahead of winter.

Zelensky said in his speech on Wednesday that Russia had destroyed all of Ukraine’s thermal power plants and a large part of its hydroelectric capacity as a way to “torment” Ukrainians ahead of winter.

Power cuts also affect mobile phone coverage, so getting through to the ambulance service for her son can be a struggle too."Sometimes it takes half an hour, sometimes it's an hour before the ambulance arrives when my child goes into convulsions and turns blue,” she says. “My son can die if he doesn't get oxygen. I'm lost for words.”

Recent blackouts have lasted as long as 12 hours a day in Tetiana's neighbourhood.For millions of Ukrainians, the absence of power can mean no running water, air conditioning, lifts or access to life-saving equipment.Over the past three months alone, Ukraine has lost nine gigawatts of generating capacity, the national energy company Ukrenergo says. This is more than a third of the capacity Ukraine had before the full-scale invasion in February 2022. It is enough to power the whole of the Netherlands during peak hours of consumption – or Slovakia, Lavtia, Lithuania and Estonia combined, Ukrenergo says.

"All state-owned thermal power plants are destroyed. All hydropower plants in our country are damaged by Russian missiles or drones," Ukrenergo spokeswoman Maria Tsaturian tells the BBC.The lack of generated electricity is made worse by rising temperatures in the summer, when Ukrainians turn on power-hungry air conditioning systems.

To cope with the shortfall, Ukrenergo has had to implement a policy of sweeping power cuts across the country, which last for many hours a day every day.

As a result, millions of Ukrainians have become increasingly reliant on fuel-powered generators or big power banks.The concern behind the very public worry about losing hundreds and hundreds of seats is that "we might not yet actually have hit the bottom", in the words of another veteran.

Leader Kemi Badenoch's backers continually say that rebuilding the party is a long-term project, and praise her for managing to draw at least a faint line under the toxic infighting that corroded Conservative ranks in recent years.The broad sense in Westminster is that dreadful results next week won't usher Badenoch to the door. Still, you'd be hard pressed to find a Conservative who'd happily bet their mortgage she'll definitely be in charge by the time of the next election.

That's in large part because in the words of one Tory bigwig, "she was working on the basis that it was her versus Starmer but it's not her versus Starmer, it's her versus Starmer and Farage and Davey".This election is pick and mix, with the newest morsels on offer coming from Nigel Farage's Reform UK. They see success in these elections as "two or three more steps up the staircase" towards power, says a senior figure.