Energy company DTEK warns of long-term blackouts after mass missile attack
Ukraine facing long-term blackouts after recent Russian attacks (Photo:NV)
Power outages due to the recent large-scale destruction of Ukraine’s power grids may last for several days, Dmytro Sakharuk, executive director at Ukraine’s largest energy company, DTEK, told Ukrainian TV channel ICTV on Nov. 17.
Currently, he said, the situation is under control – but the risks remain severe.
He noted Russian missile attacks have badly damaged power transmission facilities, namely substations that transmit electricity from one district to another, and serve as hubs to connect many central and western regions.
Power generation capability has been further degraded due to damage caused by a missile strike on a thermal power plant, Sakharuk added.
“(It will take) days (to repair the damage) ,” Sakharuk said.
“Unfortunately, we will now talk about scheduled power-ons in some regions, rather than scheduled power outages, and they will be numerous. There may unfortunately be very few hours when electricity is available. We’re talking about two or three hours a day.”
The company has taken immediate measures to reconnect consumers where possible, as well as rebuilding part of the grids, but it is not possible to be done everywhere, the DTEK executive stated. The situation is complicated by the need to remove debris and destroyed equipment in some areas, and de-mining operations in others.
He estimates that about 40% of Ukrainian consumers are facing problems with power supplies after the Nov. 15 mass Russian missile attack against Ukraine.
“I cannot predict when this share will decrease,” he said.
On the morning of Nov. 17, only two days after the Nov. 15 mass missile attack, Russian forces commenced another wave of missile strikes against Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Dnipro, and other settlements in Odesa and Kharkiv oblasts.
Some of those missiles were shot down by Ukraine’s air defense forces, with two cruise missiles and five Iranian-made attack drones intercepted near Kyiv.
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