Ukraine announced on Friday that it had regained sufficient electricity generation capacity to overcome shortages, after months of restrictions due to waves of Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.
“For almost a week, there have been no power cuts across Ukraine,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal said on Telegram, noting however that the “repair of damaged equipment will take many months”.
He warned that some areas could still experience power outages as a result of these repairs.
“There was no capacity deficit in the electrical system throughout the week. And no shortage is currently expected. Power plants produce enough electricity to cover current consumption,” operator Ukrenergo confirmed on Telegram.
After a series of military setbacks on the ground in late summer and fall, the Kremlin in October began regularly hitting Ukraine’s transformers and power plants, each time immersing millions of civilians in the dark and the cold.
“Four months of terror, thousands of missiles and drones. Russia has spent billions of dollars, but is losing again, unable to break Ukraine on the energy front,” Chmygal stressed. “However, the attacks do not stop,” he added.
On Friday and “over the weekend, electricity production will continue to meet consumption,” Energy Minister German Galouchchenko said in a statement.
In the capital kyiv, trams and trolleybuses are running again “after being stopped for 56 days”, said the head of the city’s military administration, Sergey Popko.
“Restoring a stable life in the capital of Ukraine is another small but important step towards our future victory,” he commented on Telegram.
Repairs are carried out after each missile or drone strike that damages energy infrastructure, but scheduled power outages are often imposed to relieve the power grid. The duration of the cuts is generally two hours and they can occur once or twice during a full day.
Neither water nor gas near the forehead
However, the situation remains complicated in eastern Ukraine, the epicenter of the fighting. In the small town of Siversk, close to the front line, Valentina Novikova has no heating and depends on a wood stove to cook and heat her house, all the windows of which have been blown out by explosions.
“We have had no electricity or gas since May” because of the fighting, the 72-year-old widow told Agence France-Presse on Friday.
In front of her house, Volodymyr, a 55-year-old engineer, has to go to a nearby well to get water from a used bucket.
He fills a 40-litre jerrycan, which he hauls on a sledge to the house he shares with his wife and mother-in-law, a kilometer away.
“The authorities and volunteers are bringing gas cylinders and I have a generator and a battery,” he explains, explaining that he does not know when electricity will be restored in the city.