At a Ukrainian power plant repeatedly hit by Russian aerial attacks, equipment department chief Oleh has a one-word answer when asked what Ukraine’s battered energy industry needs most: “Patriot.” Ukrainian energy workers are struggling to repair the damage from intensifying airstrikes aimed at pulverizing Ukraine’s energy grid, hobbling the economy and sapping the public’s morale. Staff worry they will lose the race to prepare for winter unless allies come up with air-defense systems like the U.S.-made Patriots to stop Russian attacks inflicting more destruction on already damaged plants.
The collapse of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure last year due to Russia’s war brought the entire country to its knees. Russia resumed missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in late March, leaving over a million consumers across the country without power. Around 700,000 people in Kharkiv Oblast, at least 200,000 people in Odesa Oblast, 200,000 people in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, and 110,000 people in Poltava Oblast faced blackouts.
Ukraine will begin the construction of nine blocks for nuclear power stations using American AR1000 technology this year, Ukraine’s Energy Minister, Herman Halushchenko, said during a TV interview on Jan. 21.
Russia destroyed 50% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure last winter, DTEK (Ukraine’s largest power utility company) CEO Dmytro Sakharuk said at the annual Ukraine and the World Ahead event organized by NV on Dec. 21.