"Russian Winter" - Kiev turns off hot water amid fears of winter gas shortage.

"Russian Winter" - Kiev turns off hot water amid fears of winter gas shortage.(RT).

Utility company Kievenergo cut gas supplies to all thermal power plants that warm the water supplied to households, adding that it received the order from the Ministry of Energy and Coal Mining. “All the thermal power plants have had their gas supply cut as of August 4,” the company said.

General director Alexander Fomenko said the move was needed in order to save gas for the cold winter ahead.

Kiev has about 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas for heating, Itar-Tass reported. Head of utilities in Kiev, Dmitri Novitsky, noted that it is not enough to regularly supply gas during winter months. “If we don’t start saving gas now, then we will have big problems in winter,” Novitsky said.

Kiev’s mayor Vitaly Klitschko said on Monday that all hot water provided by municipal boilers to Soviet-built apartment buildings will be turned off until at least October. “We are obliged to renounce hot water in order to save gas supplies for the winter. We hope for the understanding of Kievans,” said Klitschko.


Hot water is usually turned off in all older apartment buildings for pipe cleaning during the summer months.

But this shutdown is estimated to last well into the fall and there are no guarantees that it will be enough to ensure a stable gas supply during the winter months.

Other cities across Ukraine plan to follow in Kiev’s footsteps.

Those most affected by the shutdown will be millions of lower class families living in Soviet-built apartments that solely depend on a centralized energy supply.


Local media reported that 60 percent of Kiev is already without hot water and cautioned that the shutdown may translate into deep discontent for Kiev citizens. 

Following the annoucement of the shutdown, consumers reportedly rushed out to buy electric-powered boilers for their energy needs.


The Kiev city administration is reportedly considering three future possibilities: a complete shutdown, supplying hot water at lower temperature, or switching to a scheduled hot water supply.

However, the administration is already seeing signs that the saving efforts may not be enough to ensure proper heating in the winter months, according to local media.

Meanwhile, utility prices have surged in Ukraine in the last three months, in light of the gas shortage. The cost of gas rose 40 percent.

Other measures being considered include starting school early in August in order to shorten the study period during the winter months. Another option being looked at is making Saturday a school day and using the extra days to prolong the winter break.


Thus far, Ukraine has enough gas to last only until December.Hmmm......This is just the beginning.

 READ MORE: Russia-Ukraine gas war: Europe wonders what’s in store

Latest intel shows Russia has 20K battle-ready troops on the border - will Putin go for a Winter offensive?

Latest intel shows Russia has 20K battle-ready troops on the border - will Putin go for a Winter offensive? (NYTimes).

WASHINGTON — Russia has roughly doubled the number of its battalions near the Ukrainian border, Western officials said Monday, and could respond to the Kiev government’s gains there by launching a cross-border incursion with little or no warning.

Over the past several weeks, Russia has built up 17 battalions — totaling 19,000 to 21,000 troops, according to one Western estimate — into a battle-ready force of infantry, armor, artillery and air defense within a few miles of the border.

In addition, it has vastly expanded its firepower, increasing the number of advanced surface-to-air missile units to 14 from eight, and deploying more than 30 artillery batteries, according to the officials.

The Kremlin’s intentions in increasing its military abilities remain unclear. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia could be seeking to pressure Ukraine and the United States to agree to a political settlement that would grant the eastern provinces of Ukraine maximum autonomy.

But Mr. Putin, Western officials fear, may also be developing the option to intervene more directly if it appears that the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine are on the verge of defeat. American intelligence experts say that the advance by Ukrainian government forces on Donetsk and other steps that the Ukrainian government is taking to regain territory in the east from the separatists might prompt Mr. Putin to send his forces across the border under the guise of a “peacekeeping operation.”

“That’s a very real option,” a senior Defense Department official said on Monday. “And should Putin decide, he could do that with little or no notice. We just don’t know what he’s thinking.”

Another senior American official added, “The more success Ukrainian forces have, the more pressure there is on Moscow to escalate.”

Adding to the concern, the buildup coincides with a newly announced Russian air force and air defense exercise. When it intervened in Crimea this year, Russia used a military exercise to mask its preparations.

But the risks to Mr. Putin of intervening, General Clark noted, include tougher Western economic sanctions, resistance by the Ukrainian forces and Western military support for the Kiev government.

“He has set the military and political conditions for what he believes could be a successful intervention,” General Clark said. “But he still doesn’t seem to have made the political decision to do this, perhaps because he recognizes that the risks after an intervention are incalculable.” Read the full story here.

Russia preparing Winter offensive? Russia to conduct unprecedented maneuvers involving over 100 combat planes.

Russia preparing Winter offensive? Russia to conduct unprecedented maneuvers involving over 100 combat planes.(RBTH).

A bilateral command-staff exercise involving Commands 1 and 2 of the Russian Air Force and Air Defense, which are part of the Western and central Districts, will be held under the command of the commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force on August 4-8, the Defense Ministry reported.

"The training will involve over 100 aircraft of various branches of aviation such as the destroyers Su-27, MiG-31, multi-function complexes Su-34, frontline bombers Su-24, helicopters Mi-8, Mi-24, and Mi 28N," Colonel Igor Klimov, an official representative of the Russian Air Force, told Interfax-AVN on Monday.

Russian Navy unveils counterpart to American P-8 Poseidon aircraft The training "is a stage in the training of the junctions and military units of the Russian Air Force in 2014 and is being conducted for the first time on the territory of three military districts," he said.

The maneuvers will involve fights "involving practical and tactical use of aviation munitions on ground and air targets on new firing ranges, real and electronic launches of surface-to-air missiles on the firing range Ashuluk, Astrakhan region, which is intended for practicing the interaction between aviation and air defense systems," Klimov said.

The large-scale training involves aviation and air defense systems from different regions of the country. At the first stage, the aviation will be transferred from the northern aerodromes of the Western Military District to the aerodromes of the Central Military District, the source said.

At the second stage, combat use of aviation will take place form the operative aerodromes located in the southern regions (Armavir, Krymsk, Mozdok, Morozovsk, etc.).

"The air tankers Il-78 will also conduct in-flight refueling of MiG-31 destroyers and Su-34 bombers behind the polar circle. The time in flight will double and will reach some eight hours," the Air Force spokesman said. Hmmm......Comes Autumn Ukraine will run out of gas and start 'siphoning' Europe's gas, then things will get out of hand, expect a Cold, hard 'Russian Winter' Read the full story here.

@MadJewessWoman @Blazingcatfur Half residents of Kiev remain without hot water, no #Gas #Autumn this will blow http://t.co/B3B4UYrBjk)
— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) August 4, 2014

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Video - Topless Femen Protesters Climb St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev.

Topless Femen Protesters Climb St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev.(RaiNovosti).Activists from the Ukrainian feminist group Femen brought their barebreasted protest movement back to Kiev by occupying the Bell Tower of the St. Sophia Cathedral in order to denounce a draft law banning abortion. Once the five protesters climbed to the top of the tower, they stripped to the waist, unfurled a seven-meter black banner with a one-word message - "STOP" - and rang the bell. “The ringing is an alarm to this eternal city of the gangster conspiracy of church and state that aims to impose government control over the sacred feminine gift of procreation," Femen said on Twitter. The Ukrainian feminists last held a topless demonstration earlier this winter in Moscow outside the Christ the Savior Cathedral. Their demand at that protest was: “God, get rid of the Tsar!”Read and see (Video) the full story here.