Russian attacks on Kiev’s electrical grid in Ukraine result in blackouts

Ongoing Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid have caused the country’s leaders to introduce nationwide rolling blackouts. If there aren’t enough ways to protect against attacks and make repairs, the shortages could get even worse when more people need things in the late summer and winter.

The Russian airstrikes hitting the power system since March have caused blackouts to happen again in Kyiv, the capital city. This hadn’t happened since the first year of the war. There were some attacks in April and May that damaged a big power plant in Kyiv and targeted other power facilities in different areas.

Half of Ukraine’s energy system was broken, according to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Whole buildings in the main city lost power. The city’s military leaders said that at least 10% of people had their electricity or water cut off.

For a lot of people, this is a small example of what could happen if Ukraine doesn’t find other ways to get electricity before winter.

Early on Wednesday morning, a Russian drone attack caused a power outage in the city of Sumy in northern Ukraine. The city of about 250,000 people got some of its power back in the morning as workers quickly fixed the damage, according to local officials.

The power grid keeps getting attacked and there’s no good way to stop it. So, we can’t quickly fix the electricity shortages, according to Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko. Ukraine is asking Western friends for more air defense systems and spare parts to repair its old Soviet factories.

“We are losing more and more power with each attack, so our power generation is decreasing,” said Halushchenko on Tuesday outside a coal-fired plant in central Ukraine that was destroyed in an attack on April 11th. Until the military can protect the plant from more attacks, trying to fix it would be pointless.

The minister wondered if it was a good idea to fix the power stations if the Russians would just attack again and we couldn’t protect ourselves.

The German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock went with him to the plant, showing how much Ukraine really needs to fix their power problem fast.

The grid will have its first big test in July and August when people use a lot of electricity because of the summer heat. It will be a challenge for the grid because the amount of electricity used will be similar to what is used in the winter when it’s very cold.

In mid-May, people in Kyiv started to experience the results of Russia’s attacks. A sudden cold weather caused people to use more electricity. This made Ukrenergo, the main company that manages the power grid, to have to turn off electricity in some areas of the country. Ukraine doesn’t have enough electricity for peak times in the evening, and it can’t get enough from other countries like Poland, Slovakia, and Romania.

The plant was attacked on April 11 and it destroyed the machines that make electricity. This is what Yevhen Harkavyi, the technical director of Centerenergo, who runs the plant, said.

On that day, five missiles hit the building. Workers were still removing debris on Tuesday while fluffy poplar cotton fell through a hole in the roof like snow.

Harkavyi said the goal for winter is to fix as much power generation as they can. He admitted that it’s not clear how it will happen. He said, “The situation is already too difficult. “

Ukraine wants to get parts from old German factories that are no longer in use. Harkavyi said that Ukrainian teams went to Germany to check the equipment. It was turned off because it doesn’t meet EU environmental rules. European friends might not want to spend money on Ukraine’s coal energy because they are trying to be more eco-friendly. We will have to wait and see what they decide.

The teams are still figuring out how to bring the equipment back to Ukraine, he said.

“He said this is the first question. ” Ukraine wants air defense systems for protection. They are asking for help from Mrs. The Minister (Baerbock) has seen a lot of destruction and will ask the whole world for help.