Ukraine fears Russia may have already begun a concerted campaign
of attacks on the power grid for a second winter at war. Last
winter, thousands of Russian drones and missiles targeted
Ukraine's power sector, causing sweeping blackouts.
Energy Minister German Galushchenko, who is visiting the United
States, said the government was discussing with partners how to
get through the critical cold months. The West has stepped up
supplies of air defences to neutralise the threat.
"In recent weeks energy infrastructure facilities were attacked
60 times with different types of weapons," the energy ministry
said in a statement.
"After each new attack, the need for energy equipment grows, and
therefore the help of partners for the Ukrainian energy sector
is very important."
Ukraine has better air defences this winter, but its energy
system is more vulnerable because it is still hobbled from last
winter's attacks. Ukraine's military spy agency says Russia has
stockpiled hundreds of missiles for a winter air campaign.
The government said in a statement that a thermal power station
in the east was shelled on Tuesday evening. Electricity
distribution networks in the eastern Donetsk region, the
northeastern Kharkiv region and the southern Kherson region were
all also damaged due to Russian shelling, it said.
The energy ministry said natural gas distribution networks were
also damaged in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
These attacks have not caused nationwide blackouts yet as energy
workers race to repair the damage, but government officials fear
the attacks will intensify as winter nears.
Ukrainian national grid operator Ukrenergo said power
consumption continued to rise this week as temperatures dropped.
A temperature drop of 2.5 degrees Celsius resulted in
consumption rising by 1.5%, it said.
So far this autumn Ukraine has enjoyed unseasonably warm
weather, with temperatures still around 10 degrees Celsius.
Ukrenergo said a total of 431 settlements were without
electricity due to combat actions in different regions.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash; editing by Tom Balmforth and Alex
Richardson)
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