Ukraine needs to improve its air defenses to protect energy facilities from missile attacks by the aggressor state of russia and avoid blackouts this summer.
This was announced by the Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko, the Bloomberg agency writes.
Halushchenko noted that russia's bombing of Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks was larger and better planned than in the previous two years. According to him, the occupiers managed to disable generating facilities and cause restrictions on the supply of electricity. This has made restoring equipment and protecting the grid key priorities for the government, but it is not yet possible to assess the damage as much is destroyed and inaccessible, the Energy Minister stressed.
Halushchenko noted that Ukraine is looking around the world - and particularly in neighboring countries - for the necessary power equipment to replace its damaged equipment. But that hunt may be futile if the nation does not have sufficient air defenses, he said. Thermal and hydroelectric plants have been a major focus strikes by russia in the spring. According to Halushchenko, these attacks threaten not only the loss of electricity, but also environmental disasters," the article says.
Russia's goal is to destroy Ukraine's economy, Halushchenko said. The Minister of Energy emphasized that attacks on hydropower plants are acts of terrorism and war crimes, as they affect not only energy production, but also the operation of dams on rivers. Halushchenko said that more damage to the network will make it difficult to consume electricity in the summer.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko said that electricity tariffs may increase in Ukraine against the background of russia's new attacks on the energy sector.
It will be recalled that the DTEK energy holding company lost 80% of its generating capacity due to russian attacks on March 22 and 29.
On March 22, russia carried out one of the largest attacks on Ukraine's energy system, about 20 substations and power plants were affected, including the Dnipro hydroelectric station (Zaporizhzhia).
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