Ukrainians bracing for prolonged blackouts this winter amid Russian attacks
Russia strikes Ukraine's power grid (Photo: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)
Rolling blackouts could continue through the entire winter and become even more severe during extreme cold, as officials prepare emergency measures for key facilities, Ukrenergo CEO Vitalii Zaichenko told news agency RBC-Ukraine on Nov. 18.
While positive changes are possible, "we must always prepare for the worst-case scenario," according to him.
The head of Ukraine's power grid operator confirmed forecasts of year-round rationing in varying degrees are "potentially possible" amid the ongoing war, but assured that "we are doing everything possible to minimize or cancel outages."
"We started with restrictions for industry, and now we already have three or, at certain times, four rounds of mandatory hourly power cuts for the population," Zaichenko said.
In Kyiv, Deputy Mayor Petro Panteleyev told news outlet hromadske that the administration is bracing for the worst but cannot fully shield its infrastructure.
"We live with scheduled outages now, and the situation will improve as we recover," he said. "But with additional Russian strikes, it could worsen — we may face prolonged power and heat cuts. That is our reality this winter; we must prepare."
Kyiv has readied nearly 300 generators of varying capacities, increased mobile boiler units for hospitals (reaching 70 by year-end) and plans to launch six of seven purchased gas-piston installations in November-December to back up critical infrastructure.
"All measures are aimed at ensuring uninterrupted power or heat supply to key facilities," Panteleyev said.
“It is clear that it is impossible to power the entire city with some kind of alternative energy system. If we had another underground energy system in our city, it would be something out of science fiction, you understand? Our city consumes 1.3 GW of electricity, which means we would need about 15 underground power plants.”
Protecting thermal plants in concrete is unrealistic, he added, dismissing theoretical "sarcophagus"-style shields and urging ministries not to mislead residents.
“The third [level of protection], similar to a protective "sarcophagus," exists only in theory,” said the deputy mayor.
“It is impossible to protect certain objects in such a way that they cannot be hit. We have also appealed to the ministries not to mislead people. Because it is simply impossible to protect a thermal power plant with second-level protection.”
Overnight into Oct. 10, Russia launch a so-called “energy blitzkrieg” against Ukraine. The Russian army launched a massive attack on the country's energy infrastructure.
The capital was left partially without electricity and water, and the metro service was disrupted. In Sumy Oblast, emergency power outage schedules were introduced.
In Zaporizhzhya, gas infrastructure facilities were damaged as a result of the Russian attack. Russia also launched a massive attack on the energy infrastructure of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
An energy facility was also damaged in Poltava Oblast.
In total, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia launched more than 450 drones and 30 missiles at Ukraine's energy infrastructure overnight into Oct. 10. Power outages were imposed in the city of Kyiv, and the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Odesa oblasts.
According to Bloomberg, Russia has destroyed 60% of Ukraine's gas production.
Since then, power outage schedules have been reintroduced throughout Ukraine.
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