In January, population will have only 2 to 4 hours of electricity per day - FT

Russia's strikes on Ukraine's energy system will likely leave Ukrainians in the cold and dark for the coming winter.

This is reported in the Financial Times article.

Russia's first aerial bombings in the winter of 2022-2023 targeted the country's power grid, which officials and experts say could be relatively easily restored. But the latest attacks, which are focused on TPPs and HEPPs, will be much more difficult and expensive to repair, rebuild or replace.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says that the consequences of russian attacks on the country's energy sector are long-term, and therefore savings will be a part of everyday life in the years to come. The russian federation has already destroyed 9.2 GW of Ukrainian generation, the FT reports.

Before the full-scale invasion of the russian federation in 2022, domestic electricity production in Ukraine was about 55 GW of electricity, which was one of the largest in Europe. According to Ukrainian officials, this power generation capacity has currently fallen below 20 GW due to shelling or the russian occupation, which put these power plants out of order.

The latest strikes by the occupiers were also aimed at pumping stations for underground natural gas storage used by consumers from the EU. While these pumps can be easily replaced, the attacks highlight concerns about the security of gas supplies in winter — both for domestic consumption and for exports to the bloc.

Russia's first aerial bombing campaign in the winter of 2022-23 targeted the country's distribution network, which officials and experts say could be repaired relatively easily. But the latest attacks are targeting thermal and hydroelectric plants, which will be much more difficult and expensive to repair, restore or replace, they say.

One Ukrainian government official called Saturday's shelling of the russians devastating, while another added that it would likely mean Ukrainians will spend most of the day without electricity this winter.

The publication's interlocutor said that 1.2 GW of electricity was lost as a result of Saturday's shelling alone, and the infrastructure important for transporting gas from underground storage facilities in the west of Ukraine was seriously damaged.

As Oleksandr Lytvynenko, secretary of the NSDC, told the Financial Times, Ukraine plans to create a decentralized energy system that will rely on a larger number of mini-power plants that will be less vulnerable to russian attacks.

European countries have already handed over 120 batches of critical energy equipment and tools to Kyiv to help strengthen and restore the energy system.

In addition to increasing electricity imports from the EU from 1.7 GW to 2.4 GW and putting more gas-fired power plants into operation, the Ukrainian leadership will have to resort to unpopular tariff increases, according to Borys Dodonov, head of the Department of Energy and Climate Research at the Kyiv School of Economics.

"If no measures are taken, according to our simulations, the population will probably have only two to four hours of electricity per day in January," Dodonov said.

Lytvynenko noted that Ukraine is also trying to increase the use of "green" technologies, such as solar panels and wind generators. While these technologies are considered critical to Ukraine's future energy security, they require foreign investment, which given the country's risk profile is difficult to obtain.

We also reported that today, June 4, the Ministry of Economy announced that since March, Ukraine's energy system has lost 9 GW of capacity due to russian attacks.

The most affected facilities were those of Centrenergo (thermal power plants) and Ukrhydroenergo (hydroelectric power plants).

At the same time, the destruction of the Trypilska TPP (Kyiv Region) on April 11, 2024 by a missile strike of the russian army led to the destruction of the entire generation of Centrenergo.