Nearly half of the Ukrainian electricity network remained out of order on Thursday, a week after the last Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, indicated the private operator DTEK, while underlining the efforts “day and night” of electricians to repair them.
“Russia destroyed 40% of Ukraine’s energy system with terrorist missile attacks. Dozens of energy workers were killed and injured,” DTEK said in a statement posted on Telegram.
After suffering humiliating military defeats on the ground, Russia began targeting Ukrainian energy facilities in October, causing severe damage and leading to severe power shortages affecting millions of Ukrainians every day.
On November 24, the latest massive strikes on these sites left entire regions cold and dark, including the capital Kyiv.
And new Russian strikes risk considerably worsening the energy situation, and provoking a new refugee crisis in the middle of winter.
“Electrical engineers are doing everything possible and impossible to stabilize the situation regarding energy supply,” DTEK said, saying its technical teams are working “day and night” to quickly repair these infrastructures.
The private operator also said “to do everything so that there is electricity in every house in Kyiv at least once or twice” a day.
To have a little light or heat during the multiple daily time slots when they are without electricity, Ukrainians have to resort to alternative solutions, in particular using candles or generators, which sometimes lead to deadly accidental fires.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian relief said it had identified the day before nine dead and eight injured in these domestic fires.