KYIV: Ukraine is gearing up for a harsh winter by repairing and protecting its power system under renewed attacks from Russian forces, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on Tuesday.
Moscow has pounded Ukraine’s energy network throughout the two-and-a-half year war, destroying swathes of the country’s infrastructure and causing severe power shortages and blackouts.
“Russians have their own terrorist plans to destroy our energy infrastructure. We are preparing for this and understand how to get through this winter. We will definitely overcome it,” Shmygal said in a press conference.
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Shmygal outlined the measures implemented to strengthen Ukraine’s energy network, which he said was a key priority for his government.
He said 85 percent of the facilities needing protection as a priority had been reinforced, including with concrete structures able to withstand drone attacks and impact from missile fragments.
Shmygal emphasised that generators were “a major part of our energy resilience” including in the northeast of the country as “the Russians have actually destroyed all the thermal power plants supplying Kharkiv”.
All hospitals and more than 80 percent of schools across the country are equipped with generators, said Shmygal, who added that there was still “an urgent need for another 1,800 high-capacity generators”.
Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities have destroyed half of its electricity generation capacity since the winter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in June.
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