Kuleba told the EU ministers five steps for urgent assistance to Ukraine's energy sector

Energy, photo: pixabay.com

During the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the EU, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, called on the partners to intensify the protection and restoration of the Ukrainian energy industry.

This is stated on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

«Russian missile and drone strikes have destroyed or damaged a significant part of generating capacities, thermal generation, hydroelectric power stations, facilities of the electricity transmission system,» the minister said during the online switch-on.

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According to him, Ukraine is actively taking a number of steps to improve the situation in the energy system.

Dmytro Kuleba also emphasized that they are focused on five areas that will help the Ukrainian energy system.

• The first is the strengthening of anti-aircraft defense.
• The second is rapid repair and restoration of generation and distribution facilities.
• The third is the decentralization of the energy system, in particular, the installation of cogeneration plants.
• The fourth is the increase of imported capacities from the EU from the current 1.7 to 2.2 GW.
• The fifth is attracting funds and equipment from partners.

Earlier it was reported that the Russian strikes on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine are a violation of humanitarian rights. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe emphasizes that this is terror against the civilian population.

Shelling of the energy sector in the spring of 2024

On March 22, Russia carried out the first massive shelling of energy infrastructure facilities this year. The Russian army attacked Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, Khmelnytskyi, Poltava Oblast, Vinnytsia Oblast, Lviv Oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Mykolaiv Oblast, Odesa and other regions of Ukraine.

The biggest was the attack on the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) in Zaporizhzhia. This is one of the largest and most powerful hydraulic structures in Ukraine. A rocket attack on the Dnipro HPP resulted in damage to two stations and a dam that are part of its structure.

Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Research Center, says that by winter, Ukraine needs to restore at least 25-30% of the damaged heat generation: «We need to fully involve imports. Also, before winter, we need to restore as much as possible from coal generation, from hydro generation, and to build facilities in gas generation as much as possible.»

At the same time, according to the Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko, it is not appropriate to make any predictions about the difficulty of the next winter for the energy industry of Ukraine. In his opinion, now no one will be able to say with which generation Ukraine will end up in the winter: «Actually, everything looks comforting, because the system, despite the Russian strikes, is intact.»

The BBC predicts that Ukrainians can spend up to 20 hours a day without electricity or heating in winter.

In addition, on the night of June 22, the Russians launched missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities in various regions of Ukraine. As a result of anti-aircraft combat, 25 aerial targets were shot down, but energy facilities in Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions were still damaged. Also, as a result of an enemy attack on one of the objects, two energy workers were injured.