Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko said that Ukraine needs advanced air defense to protect its energy assets from Russian missile attacks and avoid power outages this summer.
"The destruction was significant, both in the electricity sector and in power transmission. The situation is complicated. We still don't understand the extent of the damage, as many facilities are still in ruins, and we can't get to them," the official said in an interview with Bloomberg.
According to him, although the losses have not yet been officially calculated, they are already measured in billions of hryvnias and continue to grow. Gerashchenko noted that the scale could reach billions of dollars.
It is noted that six gigawatts of electricity have been affected so far, which is three times more than Ukraine planned to import from the West this winter. DTEK said 80% of its facilities were severely damaged.
Galushchenko said that Ukraine is actively looking for energy equipment around the world to replace the damaged one. However, this hunt may be in vain if there is not enough air defense. This spring, Russia began shelling Ukraine's thermal and hydroelectric power plants. These attacks threaten not only the loss of electricity, but also environmental disasters.
"Attacks on hydroelectric power plants are acts of terrorism and war crimes, as they affect not only energy production, but also the operation of dams on rivers," the minister explained.
He added that Russia wants to destroy the Ukrainian economy. More damage to the grid will complicate things in the summer when consumption reaches its peak.
"We will definitely communicate with people. Everyone wants to live comfortably, but we have to think about the fact that now there are limitations... Depending on the situation in July-August, we will ask people to save as much as possible. The Russians cannot cause a repeat of the 2022 and 2023 blackouts. Even in the event of huge losses, we will have basic generation that covers from 30% to 50% of our needs," Galushchenko said.
However, he does not rule out the possibility of an increase in the electricity tariff for the population. The government is currently exploring various options for financing the repair of its energy facilities. At the same time, in June last year, after the winter attacks, the price of electricity almost doubled.
"Today, the situation is even more difficult compared to last year, as we have lost a lot of hydroelectric power and are forced to carry out scheduled repairs of nuclear units," the minister added. he.
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