Zelensky’s office has urged citizens to prepare for outages following Russian strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure
Streets of the city turn into semi-darkness as the residents have been urged to cut down on electricity use in the evenings after Russian missiles hit a power installation in Kyiv, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine on October 15, 2022. © Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Kiev has warned Ukrainians of tough times ahead as rolling power outages and a lack of water and energy for heating are expected across the country, following Russia’s missile attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.
President Vladimir Zelensky’s deputy chief-of-staff, Kirill Timoshenko, announced on Tuesday that “the situation across the country is critical.”
“Each region depends on the other. That is why we should prepare for a loss of electricity, water and heat,” he said. If Russia’s strikes continue, Timoshenko urged people to prepare for rolling blackouts and to try to preserve energy.
His comments come after Moscow’s forces targeted large energy supply facilities in Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, and Zhitomir on Tuesday morning. The executive director of Ukrainian energy company DTEK, Dmitry Sakharuk, said that Russian forces hit two thermal power plants, which sustained significant damage.
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“Facilities which are critical for the functioning of our stations have been destroyed. Without them, they cannot work normally,” he said, adding that it’s not likely that these facilities will be restored quickly.
Sakharuk also suggested that the destruction of DTEK’s energy facilities is one of the primary objectives of Russia’s massive missile strikes, which started on October 10 and have been targeting energy, military, and communications infrastructure across Ukraine.
“What is happening now is what [Russian President Vladimir] Putin spoke of. That we have 29 facilities and we want to finish them all off. That is what is happening,” he said, referring to a press conference last week in which Putin said there was no further need for massive military strikes as “only seven of some 29 targets designated by Russia’s Defense Ministry” were left standing. Putin added that these facilities were being “finished off gradually.”
On Tuesday morning, Zelensky tweeted that after one week of Russian airstrikes, around 30% of the power plants in Ukraine have been destroyed, which has led to massive blackouts across the country. He added that there is now “no space left for negotiations” with Moscow.
