Zelensky acknowledges extensive damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky has acknowledged that Ukraine’s power system has once again sustained significant damage.

"Extensive damage to the power grid and electricity transmission facilities," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Scheduled power cuts have been imposed in Ukraine for the third consecutive day due to an electricity deficit. In Kiev and several regions, emergency blackouts have been necessary because of overloading. The outages in Kiev lasted eight hours yesterday. Electric public transport and metro services were disrupted, while several districts also experienced water supply problems after pumping equipment lost power. Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said the city had switched to survival mode.

Last winter Ukraine experienced widespread power and heating outages. Blackouts lasted 12 to 16 hours, while heating was unavailable for several days in parts of Kiev and other cities. The country’s authorities admit that the forthcoming cold season may be even more difficult. The Ukrenergo power grid operator warned that the effort to repair damaged energy facilities is still ongoing, while lawmaker Alexey Kucherenko, who is the first deputy chair of the parliament’s committee on energy and utilities, advised Ukrainians to stock on water and firewood in the run-up to the winter season.

According to TASS calculations, by mid-year Ukraine had accumulated only about 7 billion cubic meters of gas in storage, compared with the minimum 13.2 billion cubic meters needed for the winter. Thermal coal reserves stand at 2.2 million metric tons, but are sufficient only for the summer and fall. Ukraine’s power system capacity, despite efforts to restore it and create a distributed power generation network, currently stands at about 12 GW, compared with the 18-19 GW required in winter.