Zelenskyy reveals Ukraine's emergency energy strategy in case of winter blackouts
Photo: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukraine will continue to protect its energy sector despite the lack of air defense systems. There are several plans in place in case of a major attack on the entire gas infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a meeting with journalists on October 8.
"Energy must be protected, and we will protect it. There is a shortage of air defense systems. You are all familiar with interceptors. Additional funding is constantly being found and increased," said the head of state.
He stressed that it is not only about the number of interceptors, but also about the need to increase the number of drone launch systems. According to him, these systems are already proving effective. However, the main issue is increasing their number.
"The interceptors are doing a good job of shooting them down. For example, the line in the Chernihiv region. There was a report at the staff meeting about one of the strikes - 36 Shaheds flew in, 22 were shot down by interceptors. That is, in general, the number of interceptions is increasing, and the number of systems will increase. We are working on this," Zelenskyy said.
He also added that Ukraine is ready to defend and restore the power system after Russian attacks, and the threats to the energy and gas infrastructure are clear.
"We have a plan A and a plan B. In plan B, if there is a strong attack on the entire gas infrastructure, we understand that we will then have to import. We understand the volume and cost of such imports. That is plan B. Plan A is when we use more of our own production," the President explained.
Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure
At the beginning of fall, Russia launched a series of attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Russia's main targets are thermal power plants, thermal power stations, and other energy facilities. The enemy has targeted the Chernihiv and Sumy regions, leading to large-scale power outages and even the introduction of power cut schedules.
The situation is most severe in the Chernihiv region. In particular, the Russians struck Nizhyn and Pryluky, damaging infrastructure.
DTEK energy company also reported that Russian troops attacked a thermal power plant. Two power engineers were wounded as a result of the Russian strike.
For more details on the new tactics of Russia's strikes, see the article by RBC-Ukraine.
