Ukraine warns of more power outages due to Russian sttacks

Kyiv warned its citizens on Monday of further power outages following another large-scale Russian attack on the country's energy production facilities. This warning comes in addition to a recent hike in electricity prices to fund the rebuilding of the threatened sector.

Officials stated that Russian forces targeted power stations in five regions over the weekend and caused damage to two other thermal power stations in an attack involving more than one hundred drones and missiles.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy announced on social media, "After six massive attacks on the power grid, there is a significant shortage of electricity."

They added that their engineers are working on repairing the damages, but the grid remains vulnerable.

Ukraine has also increased its electricity imports from neighboring European Union countries to compensate for the production shortfall caused by the attacks.

In a statement on Telegram, the ministry indicated that "outage periods may increase (...) and emergency power cuts were implemented in several regions on Sunday."

Oleksandr Kharchenko, executive director at the Energy Industry Research Center in Kyiv, warned during a press conference on Monday that these attacks necessitate adaptation by Ukrainians.

He said, "All we can do is get used to the fact that this is the normal situation, for at least the next two years."

However, he dismissed the idea of a "collapse" of the sector, affirming that the country's energy infrastructure will endure despite the outages.

AFP