Ukraine: Winter in a country beset by war

A tank's mud-encrusted steel plates sink into the mire in the Donetsk region. The onset of winter makes for difficult terrain that could make combat operations tougher — or put them on hold. It already looks like it will be a harsh winter in Ukraine. In the meantime, Russia continues its air raids.

The photo shows the damaged high-voltage switchgear at the Ukrenergo power plant in central Ukraine. Since the Russian army withdrew from some contested areas after Ukrainian troops managed to recapture some towns, it has been targeting civilian infrastructure even more heavily.

On Independence Square in Kyiv, a woman lights a candle for the victims of the war. This is the first heavy snow of the season and people expect a harsh winter. The attack on power plants continues to cause outages in large parts of the country. The government is doing its best to organize technical equipment to maintain energy supplies.

People in Ukraine continue to help each other where they can. The Venetsiia Volunteer Center in the west of the country says that what is most needed are warm clothes, hats, gloves and blankets. The government in Kyiv has ordered more generators and transformer stations, but they are in scarce supply.

In a basement in Lviv, Volodymyr, 44, checks the jars of food his mother has canned. Many Ukrainians preserve food during the warmer months to get through the winter. This year, due to the significant increase in food prices because of the war, well-stocked pantries and shelves in basements are especially important

A charity provides warm meals and gloves to people on a street in Kyiv. NATO foreign ministers met in Bucharest this week and, as well as defense, they discussed further aid to Ukraine, which would also include assistance for the shelled energy infrastructure.

This couple has taken refuge in a heated tent in Bucha. To help people get through the winter, the government has set up stations, named "points of Invincibility," across the country where there is food, warmth and power. Generally, access to the internet is poor. Elon Musk is thought to have shut down over 1,000 Starlink terminals because payments had not been made.

In Germany, charity collections for Ukraine are in full swing. In this picture, Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Gerda Hasselfeldt,the head of the German Red Cross, inspect aid supplies for Ukraine.