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Court Orders FL Church to Halt Worship Services: ‘Forced to Choose Between Worship and Contempt’

Court Orders FL Church to Halt Worship Services: ‘Forced to Choose Between Worship and Contempt’

World news

A Florida church is appealing a court order that prevents it from continuing to gather together to worship God on its property.

Pastor Roderick Palmer of Coastal Family Church in Flagler Beach, FL, has filed an appeal to the Fifth District Court of Appeal with the help of Liberty Counsel, a non-profit legal group. 

According to Liberty Counsel, Palmer is requesting an “immediate stay and reversal of a temporary injunction” that prevents the church from holding in-person worship services at its Flagler Beach location.

Last August, a lawsuit was filed against Coastal Family Church after the property association, Flagler Square – JAX, Inc., sought to enforce a restrictive covenant prohibiting “public assembly” at the properties in the Flagler Square strip mall.

The church claimed that the covenant is ambiguous, selectively enforced, and unlawful under both state and federal law. The association argued the church’s services, which are held at a building in a strip mall, “would overwhelm available parking at all times.” Liberty Counsel points out that, to date, there has never been an issue with parking. In fact, during Sunday services, more than 160 parking spots are available.

Additionally, a condominium declaration also prohibits the strip mall from being used as discount stores, banquet halls, bingo parlors, or other places of public assembly. However, it is currently being used as a consignment store and a Fraternal Order of Police lodge that regularly hosts bingo nights and rents its facility to the public for public assembly. 

“Despite no evidence of parking problems, and after the city formally approved the church’s zoning special exception, the trial court still issued an order preventing religious gatherings on the property,” Liberty Counsel explained in a press statement.

As a result of the injunction, the church was forced to close its doors this past Sunday.

“No pastor, church, or parishioner in America should be forced to choose between worship and contempt,” wrote Liberty Counsel.  “Yet the order imposes an extraordinary burden – shutting the doors of Coastal Family Church and forcing the pastor to bar his congregants from accessing their own church to worship, receive communion, and fellowship together during the pendency of this civil action.”

In its appeal, Liberty Counsel argues that the court order “constitutes ‘a prior restraint’ on speech, assembly, and religious exercise, which is ‘the most serious and least tolerable form of infringement on First Amendment rights.'” 

“Courts have consistently held that closing a house of worship triggers a loss of First Amendment freedoms, which even briefly, causes irreparable harm,” the legal group points out. “The order has already prevented the church from meeting for one Sunday worship, and each additional week the injunction remains in place would inflict compounding constitutional injury that cannot be undone, such as a potential drop in attendance, as well as a decline in donations required to maintain operations, pay staff, and serve its community.”

Pastor Palmer is seeking emergency relief and specifically requesting that the Fifth District Court of Appeal rule on the administrative stay by January 28, 2026, to prevent them from missing another Sunday service. 

“This injunction unconstitutionally shutters a house of worship with no compelling government interest to do so. Every Sunday that the doors of Coastal Family Church remain closed inflicts irreparable spiritual and constitutional injury on its congregation,” said Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver.

“The U.S. Constitution and Florida laws are clear that Pastor Roderick Palmer and Coastal Family Church have the right to hold church services on church property and that restrictive covenants cannot ban religious assembly. This injunction must be stayed and reversed,” he added. 

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In autumn 2024, Russia launched massive aerial assaults on Ukraine, pounding its energy system and raising fears about the safety of its nuclear power plants. Several reactors disconnected from the grid. One shut down entirely.

“It wasn’t that we were scared,” says Shaun Burnie, recalling that night. “It was that we were terrified.”

For Greenpeace veteran nuclear specialist Burnie, who has worked in some of the most radioactive places on earth, the danger lay in what could have followed.

A man wearing glasses, an orange hard hat, face mask and protective gear standing inside the Chernobyl new safe confinement. He is being interviewed.
Shaun Burnie has been inside the structure protecing the Chernobyl reactor three times and says he’s not keen to have to make too many return visitsImage: Pavlo Siromenko/Greenpeace

Nuclear plants rely on a constant external power supply to run cooling systems for the reactor core and spent fuel. If the grid buckles and plants disconnect, they switch to diesel generators.

In a worst-case scenario, if they can’t reconnect, cooling systems fail and reactors overheat. Ukraine knows what that means. On April 26 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands from the area and contaminating large parts of Europe.

“Chernobyl is part of our collective memory. Everyone has family or community stories about it,” says Lena Kondratiuk, a 25-year-old from Rivne in western Ukraine. “And now, during the war, this meaning has become even more real.”

The lasting legacy of Chernobyl

A system under pressure

Though Ukraine still depends on nuclear energy for more than half of its electricity and plans to build more reactors, the worst-case scenario hasn’t happened. But the threat remains as Russia continues to target energy infrastructure.

More than half of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been damaged or destroyed. UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called the situation “the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety.” 

Because large, centralized plants — nuclear, coal, or gas — that generate huge amounts of electricity in one place are such easy targets, decentralization is an attractive idea.

And that also means more renewable energy, which is harder to target, cheaper to fix, and faster to deploy.

Chris Alyett, an energy specialist at UK think tank Chatham House said that while a single missile can take out a 250-megawatt coal plant, it would require 40 to destroy the same capacity in wind generation. Solar parks are also more resistant.

“If there is damage to that, it doesn’t necessarily need to take everything out — you could swap new panels in,” Aylett said.

A man in an orange hard hat repairing a damaged electricity substation
Engineers repairing the grid have helped avert disaster, but some have been killed in Russian “double tap” strikes in the course of their workImage: Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/REUTERS

These benefits are driving Ukrainian energy companies and NGOs to push renewables. Rooftop solar now covers hospitals, schools, and public buildings. In 2025, the country installed enough to power over a million homes, all while under fire.

Keeping the lights on with renewables

Lena Kondratiuk is part of that effort. She joined the NGO Ecoclub as a volunteer at 18, before taking on a job as renewables analyst there in 2020. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, the organization shifted from advocacy worked and launched the Solar Aid for Ukraine campaign, as power outages became a part of daily life.

At 21, she began managing projects. At first, she was daunted by the responsibility but agreed to it “because of the war, because I understand that, for example, I can die tomorrow.”

A woman smiling and standing in front of solar panels
Lena Kondratiuk travels around the country bringing solar power to communities with NGO Ecoclub Image: Ecoclub

Like many Ukrainians she has learned to adapt. Her work now takes her all over the country, including south to Mykolaiv, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the front line. On her first trip to the city, it was being shelled and running on diesel generators.

“I didn’t want to come back to the city because I’m scared,” she says.

Now Kondraktiuk makes the 13-hour trip around once a month, even as Russia targets passenger trains. She loves it there because of the people. “They teach that even during such a war time it’s still possible to find happy moments in your life and continue it.”

Renewable energy as survival

Despite the risks, Kondratiuk has helped bring nearly 90 solar systems online. In places like Mykolaiv, these systems are more than green energy, they are lifelines.

“Renewable energy in Ukraine is not about the climate and sustainability; it’s about surviving now,” says Kondratiuk. “It’s about the access to basic needs.”

These solar and battery systems keep water utilities running during blackouts. They also enable hospitals to operate and children to charge their phones during outages so they can keep in touch with their parents.

Three men installing solar panels on a rooftop
Hybrid solar and battery systems have proven to be a lifeline for Ukrainians during blackoutsImage: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP

One project she worked on installed solar panels at a care home for women with mental health and neurological conditions. Before the installation, staff woke at 4am to try and prepare meals ahead of power cuts, but the patients often went without warm food.

“And after that they were happy because they have like access to everything,” she says.

Lessons learned from Ukraine

The priority for Ukrainians is to keep power flowing. Nuclear has been essential to that, and without it, experts say Ukraine would be in a far worse position given how much fossil fuel capacity has been destroyed during the war. The country still needs baseload power.

Chris Aylett has been looking at what other countries in Europe can learn from Ukraine’s experience of running an energy grid under constant attack.

“They’ve gone through this terrible experience, they’re continuing to go through it, they’ve shown amazing sort of ingenuity at rebuilding fast and it’s told us a lot about what’s vulnerable and what you need to consider,” he says.

The hidden cost of nuclear power

The main lesson is the geographical spread of infrastructure — and that applies regardless of energy source. Diversifying the mix, with more renewables and storage, is another. As is stockpiling the right components that keep a system running — and standardizing them, so restoration takes weeks rather than months.

Alyett says the war, and the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, have further made the case for rapid decarbonization and renewables in “fossil-fuel poor” Europe, alongside “tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

On nuclear’s future, he is pragmatic, saying that in countries such as France, where it is a major energy source, he sees no reason for that to stop. “Ultimately you just want to build out as much low carbon as you can, and make it as secure as you can while you’re doing it.”

Kondratiuk says she’s glad she was born long after Chernobyl — even as she lives through a different kind of disaster in Ukraine, one she doesn’t expect to end soon. But she’s still looking to a time when the war is over.

“I still want to help my country, still want to continue my work at the Ecoclub and I still think that even after the war and after our victory there would be even more work compared to now because we have to rebuild the country and rebuild it in greener and better way,” she says.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

This story was adapted from an episode of DW’s Living Planet podcast. 

#Ukraine #rebuilding #energy #system #fire">How Ukraine is rebuilding its energy system under fireIn autumn 2024, Russia launched massive aerial assaults on Ukraine, pounding its energy system and raising fears about the safety of its nuclear power plants. Several reactors disconnected from the grid. One shut down entirely. “It wasn’t that we were scared,” says Shaun Burnie, recalling that night. “It was that we were terrified.” For Greenpeace veteran nuclear specialist Burnie, who has worked in some of the most radioactive places on earth, the danger lay in what could have followed.Shaun Burnie has been inside the structure protecing the Chernobyl reactor three times and says he’s not keen to have to make too many return visitsImage: Pavlo Siromenko/Greenpeace Nuclear plants rely on a constant external power supply to run cooling systems for the reactor core and spent fuel. If the grid buckles and plants disconnect, they switch to diesel generators. In a worst-case scenario, if they can’t reconnect, cooling systems fail and reactors overheat. Ukraine knows what that means. On April 26 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands from the area and contaminating large parts of Europe. “Chernobyl is part of our collective memory. Everyone has family or community stories about it,” says Lena Kondratiuk, a 25-year-old from Rivne in western Ukraine. “And now, during the war, this meaning has become even more real.”The lasting legacy of ChernobylTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A system under pressure Though Ukraine still depends on nuclear energy for more than half of its electricity and plans to build more reactors, the worst-case scenario hasn’t happened. But the threat remains as Russia continues to target energy infrastructure. More than half of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been damaged or destroyed. UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called the situation “the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety.”  Because large, centralized plants — nuclear, coal, or gas — that generate huge amounts of electricity in one place are such easy targets, decentralization is an attractive idea. And that also means more renewable energy, which is harder to target, cheaper to fix, and faster to deploy. Chris Alyett, an energy specialist at UK think tank Chatham House said that while a single missile can take out a 250-megawatt coal plant, it would require 40 to destroy the same capacity in wind generation. Solar parks are also more resistant. “If there is damage to that, it doesn’t necessarily need to take everything out — you could swap new panels in,” Aylett said. Engineers repairing the grid have helped avert disaster, but some have been killed in Russian “double tap” strikes in the course of their workImage: Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/REUTERSThese benefits are driving Ukrainian energy companies and NGOs to push renewables. Rooftop solar now covers hospitals, schools, and public buildings. In 2025, the country installed enough to power over a million homes, all while under fire. Keeping the lights on with renewables Lena Kondratiuk is part of that effort. She joined the NGO Ecoclub as a volunteer at 18, before taking on a job as renewables analyst there in 2020. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, the organization shifted from advocacy worked and launched the Solar Aid for Ukraine campaign, as power outages became a part of daily life. At 21, she began managing projects. At first, she was daunted by the responsibility but agreed to it “because of the war, because I understand that, for example, I can die tomorrow.”Lena Kondratiuk travels around the country bringing solar power to communities with NGO Ecoclub Image: Ecoclub Like many Ukrainians she has learned to adapt. Her work now takes her all over the country, including south to Mykolaiv, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the front line. On her first trip to the city, it was being shelled and running on diesel generators. “I didn’t want to come back to the city because I’m scared,” she says. Now Kondraktiuk makes the 13-hour trip around once a month, even as Russia targets passenger trains. She loves it there because of the people. “They teach that even during such a war time it’s still possible to find happy moments in your life and continue it.” Renewable energy as survival Despite the risks, Kondratiuk has helped bring nearly 90 solar systems online. In places like Mykolaiv, these systems are more than green energy, they are lifelines. “Renewable energy in Ukraine is not about the climate and sustainability; it’s about surviving now,” says Kondratiuk. “It’s about the access to basic needs.” These solar and battery systems keep water utilities running during blackouts. They also enable hospitals to operate and children to charge their phones during outages so they can keep in touch with their parents.Hybrid solar and battery systems have proven to be a lifeline for Ukrainians during blackoutsImage: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP One project she worked on installed solar panels at a care home for women with mental health and neurological conditions. Before the installation, staff woke at 4am to try and prepare meals ahead of power cuts, but the patients often went without warm food. “And after that they were happy because they have like access to everything,” she says. Lessons learned from Ukraine The priority for Ukrainians is to keep power flowing. Nuclear has been essential to that, and without it, experts say Ukraine would be in a far worse position given how much fossil fuel capacity has been destroyed during the war. The country still needs baseload power. Chris Aylett has been looking at what other countries in Europe can learn from Ukraine’s experience of running an energy grid under constant attack. “They’ve gone through this terrible experience, they’re continuing to go through it, they’ve shown amazing sort of ingenuity at rebuilding fast and it’s told us a lot about what’s vulnerable and what you need to consider,” he says.The hidden cost of nuclear powerTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The main lesson is the geographical spread of infrastructure — and that applies regardless of energy source. Diversifying the mix, with more renewables and storage, is another. As is stockpiling the right components that keep a system running — and standardizing them, so restoration takes weeks rather than months. Alyett says the war, and the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, have further made the case for rapid decarbonization and renewables in “fossil-fuel poor” Europe, alongside “tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” On nuclear’s future, he is pragmatic, saying that in countries such as France, where it is a major energy source, he sees no reason for that to stop. “Ultimately you just want to build out as much low carbon as you can, and make it as secure as you can while you’re doing it.” Kondratiuk says she’s glad she was born long after Chernobyl — even as she lives through a different kind of disaster in Ukraine, one she doesn’t expect to end soon. But she’s still looking to a time when the war is over. “I still want to help my country, still want to continue my work at the Ecoclub and I still think that even after the war and after our victory there would be even more work compared to now because we have to rebuild the country and rebuild it in greener and better way,” she says. Edited by: Tamsin Walker This story was adapted from an episode of DW’s Living Planet podcast.  #Ukraine #rebuilding #energy #system #fire

safety of its nuclear power plants. Several reactors disconnected from the grid. One shut down entirely.

“It wasn’t that we were scared,” says Shaun Burnie, recalling that night. “It was that we were terrified.”

For Greenpeace veteran nuclear specialist Burnie, who has worked in some of the most radioactive places on earth, the danger lay in what could have followed.

A man wearing glasses, an orange hard hat, face mask and protective gear standing inside the Chernobyl new safe confinement. He is being interviewed.
Shaun Burnie has been inside the structure protecing the Chernobyl reactor three times and says he’s not keen to have to make too many return visitsImage: Pavlo Siromenko/Greenpeace

Nuclear plants rely on a constant external power supply to run cooling systems for the reactor core and spent fuel. If the grid buckles and plants disconnect, they switch to diesel generators.

In a worst-case scenario, if they can’t reconnect, cooling systems fail and reactors overheat. Ukraine knows what that means. On April 26 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands from the area and contaminating large parts of Europe.

“Chernobyl is part of our collective memory. Everyone has family or community stories about it,” says Lena Kondratiuk, a 25-year-old from Rivne in western Ukraine. “And now, during the war, this meaning has become even more real.”

The lasting legacy of Chernobyl

A system under pressure

Though Ukraine still depends on nuclear energy for more than half of its electricity and plans to build more reactors, the worst-case scenario hasn’t happened. But the threat remains as Russia continues to target energy infrastructure.

More than half of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been damaged or destroyed. UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called the situation “the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety.” 

Because large, centralized plants — nuclear, coal, or gas — that generate huge amounts of electricity in one place are such easy targets, decentralization is an attractive idea.

And that also means more renewable energy, which is harder to target, cheaper to fix, and faster to deploy.

Chris Alyett, an energy specialist at UK think tank Chatham House said that while a single missile can take out a 250-megawatt coal plant, it would require 40 to destroy the same capacity in wind generation. Solar parks are also more resistant.

“If there is damage to that, it doesn’t necessarily need to take everything out — you could swap new panels in,” Aylett said.

A man in an orange hard hat repairing a damaged electricity substation
Engineers repairing the grid have helped avert disaster, but some have been killed in Russian “double tap” strikes in the course of their workImage: Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/REUTERS

These benefits are driving Ukrainian energy companies and NGOs to push renewables. Rooftop solar now covers hospitals, schools, and public buildings. In 2025, the country installed enough to power over a million homes, all while under fire.

Keeping the lights on with renewables

Lena Kondratiuk is part of that effort. She joined the NGO Ecoclub as a volunteer at 18, before taking on a job as renewables analyst there in 2020. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, the organization shifted from advocacy worked and launched the Solar Aid for Ukraine campaign, as power outages became a part of daily life.

At 21, she began managing projects. At first, she was daunted by the responsibility but agreed to it “because of the war, because I understand that, for example, I can die tomorrow.”

A woman smiling and standing in front of solar panels
Lena Kondratiuk travels around the country bringing solar power to communities with NGO Ecoclub Image: Ecoclub

Like many Ukrainians she has learned to adapt. Her work now takes her all over the country, including south to Mykolaiv, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the front line. On her first trip to the city, it was being shelled and running on diesel generators.

“I didn’t want to come back to the city because I’m scared,” she says.

Now Kondraktiuk makes the 13-hour trip around once a month, even as Russia targets passenger trains. She loves it there because of the people. “They teach that even during such a war time it’s still possible to find happy moments in your life and continue it.”

Renewable energy as survival

Despite the risks, Kondratiuk has helped bring nearly 90 solar systems online. In places like Mykolaiv, these systems are more than green energy, they are lifelines.

“Renewable energy in Ukraine is not about the climate and sustainability; it’s about surviving now,” says Kondratiuk. “It’s about the access to basic needs.”

These solar and battery systems keep water utilities running during blackouts. They also enable hospitals to operate and children to charge their phones during outages so they can keep in touch with their parents.

Three men installing solar panels on a rooftop
Hybrid solar and battery systems have proven to be a lifeline for Ukrainians during blackoutsImage: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP

One project she worked on installed solar panels at a care home for women with mental health and neurological conditions. Before the installation, staff woke at 4am to try and prepare meals ahead of power cuts, but the patients often went without warm food.

“And after that they were happy because they have like access to everything,” she says.

Lessons learned from Ukraine

The priority for Ukrainians is to keep power flowing. Nuclear has been essential to that, and without it, experts say Ukraine would be in a far worse position given how much fossil fuel capacity has been destroyed during the war. The country still needs baseload power.

Chris Aylett has been looking at what other countries in Europe can learn from Ukraine’s experience of running an energy grid under constant attack.

“They’ve gone through this terrible experience, they’re continuing to go through it, they’ve shown amazing sort of ingenuity at rebuilding fast and it’s told us a lot about what’s vulnerable and what you need to consider,” he says.

The hidden cost of nuclear power

The main lesson is the geographical spread of infrastructure — and that applies regardless of energy source. Diversifying the mix, with more renewables and storage, is another. As is stockpiling the right components that keep a system running — and standardizing them, so restoration takes weeks rather than months.

Alyett says the war, and the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, have further made the case for rapid decarbonization and renewables in “fossil-fuel poor” Europe, alongside “tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

On nuclear’s future, he is pragmatic, saying that in countries such as France, where it is a major energy source, he sees no reason for that to stop. “Ultimately you just want to build out as much low carbon as you can, and make it as secure as you can while you’re doing it.”

Kondratiuk says she’s glad she was born long after Chernobyl — even as she lives through a different kind of disaster in Ukraine, one she doesn’t expect to end soon. But she’s still looking to a time when the war is over.

“I still want to help my country, still want to continue my work at the Ecoclub and I still think that even after the war and after our victory there would be even more work compared to now because we have to rebuild the country and rebuild it in greener and better way,” she says.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

This story was adapted from an episode of DW’s Living Planet podcast. 

#Ukraine #rebuilding #energy #system #fire">How Ukraine is rebuilding its energy system under fire

In autumn 2024, Russia launched massive aerial assaults on Ukraine, pounding its energy system and raising fears about the safety of its nuclear power plants. Several reactors disconnected from the grid. One shut down entirely.

“It wasn’t that we were scared,” says Shaun Burnie, recalling that night. “It was that we were terrified.”

For Greenpeace veteran nuclear specialist Burnie, who has worked in some of the most radioactive places on earth, the danger lay in what could have followed.

A man wearing glasses, an orange hard hat, face mask and protective gear standing inside the Chernobyl new safe confinement. He is being interviewed.
Shaun Burnie has been inside the structure protecing the Chernobyl reactor three times and says he’s not keen to have to make too many return visitsImage: Pavlo Siromenko/Greenpeace

Nuclear plants rely on a constant external power supply to run cooling systems for the reactor core and spent fuel. If the grid buckles and plants disconnect, they switch to diesel generators.

In a worst-case scenario, if they can’t reconnect, cooling systems fail and reactors overheat. Ukraine knows what that means. On April 26 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands from the area and contaminating large parts of Europe.

“Chernobyl is part of our collective memory. Everyone has family or community stories about it,” says Lena Kondratiuk, a 25-year-old from Rivne in western Ukraine. “And now, during the war, this meaning has become even more real.”

The lasting legacy of Chernobyl

A system under pressure

Though Ukraine still depends on nuclear energy for more than half of its electricity and plans to build more reactors, the worst-case scenario hasn’t happened. But the threat remains as Russia continues to target energy infrastructure.

More than half of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been damaged or destroyed. UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called the situation “the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety.” 

Because large, centralized plants — nuclear, coal, or gas — that generate huge amounts of electricity in one place are such easy targets, decentralization is an attractive idea.

And that also means more renewable energy, which is harder to target, cheaper to fix, and faster to deploy.

Chris Alyett, an energy specialist at UK think tank Chatham House said that while a single missile can take out a 250-megawatt coal plant, it would require 40 to destroy the same capacity in wind generation. Solar parks are also more resistant.

“If there is damage to that, it doesn’t necessarily need to take everything out — you could swap new panels in,” Aylett said.

A man in an orange hard hat repairing a damaged electricity substation
Engineers repairing the grid have helped avert disaster, but some have been killed in Russian “double tap” strikes in the course of their workImage: Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/REUTERS

These benefits are driving Ukrainian energy companies and NGOs to push renewables. Rooftop solar now covers hospitals, schools, and public buildings. In 2025, the country installed enough to power over a million homes, all while under fire.

Keeping the lights on with renewables

Lena Kondratiuk is part of that effort. She joined the NGO Ecoclub as a volunteer at 18, before taking on a job as renewables analyst there in 2020. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, the organization shifted from advocacy worked and launched the Solar Aid for Ukraine campaign, as power outages became a part of daily life.

At 21, she began managing projects. At first, she was daunted by the responsibility but agreed to it “because of the war, because I understand that, for example, I can die tomorrow.”

A woman smiling and standing in front of solar panels
Lena Kondratiuk travels around the country bringing solar power to communities with NGO Ecoclub Image: Ecoclub

Like many Ukrainians she has learned to adapt. Her work now takes her all over the country, including south to Mykolaiv, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the front line. On her first trip to the city, it was being shelled and running on diesel generators.

“I didn’t want to come back to the city because I’m scared,” she says.

Now Kondraktiuk makes the 13-hour trip around once a month, even as Russia targets passenger trains. She loves it there because of the people. “They teach that even during such a war time it’s still possible to find happy moments in your life and continue it.”

Renewable energy as survival

Despite the risks, Kondratiuk has helped bring nearly 90 solar systems online. In places like Mykolaiv, these systems are more than green energy, they are lifelines.

“Renewable energy in Ukraine is not about the climate and sustainability; it’s about surviving now,” says Kondratiuk. “It’s about the access to basic needs.”

These solar and battery systems keep water utilities running during blackouts. They also enable hospitals to operate and children to charge their phones during outages so they can keep in touch with their parents.

Three men installing solar panels on a rooftop
Hybrid solar and battery systems have proven to be a lifeline for Ukrainians during blackoutsImage: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP

One project she worked on installed solar panels at a care home for women with mental health and neurological conditions. Before the installation, staff woke at 4am to try and prepare meals ahead of power cuts, but the patients often went without warm food.

“And after that they were happy because they have like access to everything,” she says.

Lessons learned from Ukraine

The priority for Ukrainians is to keep power flowing. Nuclear has been essential to that, and without it, experts say Ukraine would be in a far worse position given how much fossil fuel capacity has been destroyed during the war. The country still needs baseload power.

Chris Aylett has been looking at what other countries in Europe can learn from Ukraine’s experience of running an energy grid under constant attack.

“They’ve gone through this terrible experience, they’re continuing to go through it, they’ve shown amazing sort of ingenuity at rebuilding fast and it’s told us a lot about what’s vulnerable and what you need to consider,” he says.

The hidden cost of nuclear power

The main lesson is the geographical spread of infrastructure — and that applies regardless of energy source. Diversifying the mix, with more renewables and storage, is another. As is stockpiling the right components that keep a system running — and standardizing them, so restoration takes weeks rather than months.

Alyett says the war, and the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, have further made the case for rapid decarbonization and renewables in “fossil-fuel poor” Europe, alongside “tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

On nuclear’s future, he is pragmatic, saying that in countries such as France, where it is a major energy source, he sees no reason for that to stop. “Ultimately you just want to build out as much low carbon as you can, and make it as secure as you can while you’re doing it.”

Kondratiuk says she’s glad she was born long after Chernobyl — even as she lives through a different kind of disaster in Ukraine, one she doesn’t expect to end soon. But she’s still looking to a time when the war is over.

“I still want to help my country, still want to continue my work at the Ecoclub and I still think that even after the war and after our victory there would be even more work compared to now because we have to rebuild the country and rebuild it in greener and better way,” she says.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

This story was adapted from an episode of DW’s Living Planet podcast. 

#Ukraine #rebuilding #energy #system #fire
a statement. 

“The planned consolidation of the European network is being carried out across Lufthansa Group’s six hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels, and Rome,” the airline said. “Passengers will therefore continue to have access to the global route network, particularly long-haul connections.” 

Several other major airlines — in both Europe and the U.S., which is far less reliant on fuel supplies from the Middle East — had already announced temporary flight cuts. 

Air Canada, Delta, and other airlines announced cancellations earlier this month. 

“The spike in oil prices is big news in general and the impact on jet fuel prices is pronounced,” Stephen Rooney, lead economist at Tourism Economics, told CBS News last week. “Jet fuel is a huge cost for airlines, especially on longer-haul flights.”

#Live #Updates #Iran #attacks #ships #Strait #Hormuz #thousands #U.S #forces #Middle #EastCargo Ship, War, Iran, Israel, Ceasefire, Donald Trump, United States Military, Oil and Gas, Strait of Hormuz">Live Updates: Iran attacks ships in Strait of Hormuz as thousands more U.S. forces head for Middle East Germany’s flag carrier airline Lufthansa said Wednesday that it was canceling 20,000 short-haul flights within Europe to save money, citing the dramatic spike in the price of jet fuel caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has dramatically constrained the flow of petroleum products through the Strait of Hormuz.“In total, 20,000 short-haul flights will be removed from the schedule through October, equivalent to approximately 40,000 metric tons of jet fuel, the price of which has doubled since the outbreak of the Iran conflict,” the airline said in a statement. “The planned consolidation of the European network is being carried out across Lufthansa Group’s six hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels, and Rome,” the airline said. “Passengers will therefore continue to have access to the global route network, particularly long-haul connections.” Several other major airlines — in both Europe and the U.S., which is far less reliant on fuel supplies from the Middle East — had already announced temporary flight cuts. Air Canada, Delta, and other airlines announced cancellations earlier this month. “The spike in oil prices is big news in general and the impact on jet fuel prices is pronounced,” Stephen Rooney, lead economist at Tourism Economics, told CBS News last week. “Jet fuel is a huge cost for airlines, especially on longer-haul flights.” #Live #Updates #Iran #attacks #ships #Strait #Hormuz #thousands #U.S #forces #Middle #EastCargo Ship, War, Iran, Israel, Ceasefire, Donald Trump, United States Military, Oil and Gas, Strait of Hormuz

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“The planned consolidation of the European network is being carried out across Lufthansa Group’s six hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels, and Rome,” the airline said. “Passengers will therefore continue to have access to the global route network, particularly long-haul connections.” 

Several other major airlines — in both Europe and the U.S., which is far less reliant on fuel supplies from the Middle East — had already announced temporary flight cuts. 

Air Canada, Delta, and other airlines announced cancellations earlier this month. 

“The spike in oil prices is big news in general and the impact on jet fuel prices is pronounced,” Stephen Rooney, lead economist at Tourism Economics, told CBS News last week. “Jet fuel is a huge cost for airlines, especially on longer-haul flights.”

#Live #Updates #Iran #attacks #ships #Strait #Hormuz #thousands #U.S #forces #Middle #EastCargo Ship, War, Iran, Israel, Ceasefire, Donald Trump, United States Military, Oil and Gas, Strait of Hormuz">Live Updates: Iran attacks ships in Strait of Hormuz as thousands more U.S. forces head for Middle East

Germany’s flag carrier airline Lufthansa said Wednesday that it was canceling 20,000 short-haul flights within Europe to save money, citing the dramatic spike in the price of jet fuel caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has dramatically constrained the flow of petroleum products through the Strait of Hormuz.

“In total, 20,000 short-haul flights will be removed from the schedule through October, equivalent to approximately 40,000 metric tons of jet fuel, the price of which has doubled since the outbreak of the Iran conflict,” the airline said in a statement. 

“The planned consolidation of the European network is being carried out across Lufthansa Group’s six hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels, and Rome,” the airline said. “Passengers will therefore continue to have access to the global route network, particularly long-haul connections.” 

Several other major airlines — in both Europe and the U.S., which is far less reliant on fuel supplies from the Middle East — had already announced temporary flight cuts. 

Air Canada, Delta, and other airlines announced cancellations earlier this month. 

“The spike in oil prices is big news in general and the impact on jet fuel prices is pronounced,” Stephen Rooney, lead economist at Tourism Economics, told CBS News last week. “Jet fuel is a huge cost for airlines, especially on longer-haul flights.”

#Live #Updates #Iran #attacks #ships #Strait #Hormuz #thousands #U.S #forces #Middle #EastCargo Ship, War, Iran, Israel, Ceasefire, Donald Trump, United States Military, Oil and Gas, Strait of Hormuz

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