Ukrainians brace for long hours without electricity by winter – FT

Due to the Russian shelling of Ukrainian energy facilities, the country's inhabitants will probably spend most of the day without electricity by winter.

Financial Times reports this.

As noted in the publication, Russia's first aerial bombing campaign in the winter of 2022-2023 targeted the country's electrical grid, which officials and experts said could be relatively quickly restored.

However, recent attacks have focused on thermal and hydroelectric plants, which will be much more difficult and expensive to repair, rebuild, or replace.

"One Ukrainian government official described Saturday's strike (June 1 – ed.) as 'devastating,' while another noted that residents will probably spend most of the day without electricity until winter," the newspaper writes.

In addition, as noted in the publication, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russian Federation destroyed more than half of the electricity production, and Ukraine's generation fell from 55 to 20 GW.

"Before the full-scale invasion of Russia, domestic electricity production in Ukraine was about 55 GW of electricity, one of Europe's largest. Now this production capacity has fallen below 20 GW due to shelling and the Russian occupation, which put power plants out of order," it emphasizes.

For reference:

As the ambassador of the European Union in Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, reported, taking into account the missile attacks that happened recently [June 1 – ed.], Russia has already destroyed 9.2 GW of Ukrainian generation.

On the night of June 1, the Russian invaders launched Kh-101 cruise missiles, Kalibr missiles, and attack drones over Ukraine. The enemy's target was energy facilities in five regions of the country.

As of June 5, the power system is forecast to be in deficit throughout the day. Consumption limits will apply for each region from 00:00 to 24:00.

Power supply restrictions are associated with power system shortages. In particular, Ukrainian energy facilities were subjected to a series of massive Russian strikes, which destroyed several large TPPs and CHPs.

The Ministry of Energy stated that the additional funds received by the energy industry due to the increase in the electricity tariff for the population will be directed to the repair campaign and the restoration of state generation.

In addition, the DTEK company [the largest private investor in the energy industry of Ukraine – ed.] is actively working to convince the international community to help Ukraine restore energy facilities damaged as a result of massive Russian attacks.