Ukrainian energy infrastructure around Kherson was “virtually destroyed” during the withdrawal of Russian forces and the situation is “complicated” in Odessa, the target of the attacks, national operator Ukrenergo said on Friday.
“On Monday, the enemy attacked again. Again it was the Ukrenergo facilities, the main line substations, especially in southern Ukraine, and the power plants that were damaged,” lamented their leader, Volodymyr Koudritskiï, during a news conference.
The national energy network destroyed at 40%
According to him, “the successful work” of the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense has prevented further Russian attacks from reaching their targets and further damaging the national energy network, already 40% destroyed according to the Ukrainian authorities.
“Russia has fired more than a thousand missiles and drones” since Oct. 10, the date of the first major Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy sites, he told reporters.
According to him, the most difficult situation “is in Odessa (south-west) and in the Kherson region where the electrical network is practically destroyed.”
In a government meeting, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal added the Donetsk (east) and Kharkiv (northeast) regions to the areas with the most serious electrical problems, “the enemy attacks energy installations almost every day with artillery and distribution networks. .
Possibility of importing electricity from other European countries
At the site, “the situation is further complicated by weather conditions that are delaying repair work,” he said on Friday. “This winter, we will constantly live in conditions of restricted electricity consumption,” he said.
Volodymyr Kudritsky, for his part, also indicated that “virtually all (Ukrainian) hydroelectric power plants have also been damaged and have limited electricity production capacity” following the Russian attacks that plunged millions of Ukrainians into darkness and cold.
He noted that it was “technically possible to import” electricity from other European countries, but “the problem is that European electricity is much more expensive than Ukrainian electricity,” he lamented.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured that his army would continue its attacks against the Ukrainian energy infrastructure, in retaliation according to him for the attacks that Moscow attributes to Kiev in particular against the Crimean bridge, partially destroyed in early October during an attack on the truck bomb.
Source: BFM TV
