The coming winter promises to be difficult for Ukraine due to massive Russian missile strikes that have destroyed much of the country's energy infrastructure. Experts are already predicting long power outages during the heating season, depending on the intensity of the shelling and weather conditions.
Up to 12 hours of downtime
Gennady Ryabtsev, chief researcher at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, told Channel 24 that power outages could last from 8 to 12 hours a day, depending on the air temperature and time of day. The most difficult situation is expected in frontline regions, such as Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Kherson, and Sumy regions.
Large cities such as Odesa, Dnipro, and Kyiv are also expected to experience long outages due to their high concentration of consumers. Kyiv, as one of the main targets of Russian missile strikes, is likely to be hit harder than other regions.
Unscheduled shutdowns of nuclear power plants
Oleg Popenko, the head of the Union of Consumers of Public Utilities, notes that if Russia continues to strike substations, this could lead to the shutdown of nuclear power plants, which would cause more serious and longer outages.
According to him, if in the last heating season, periods without electricity could last 2-3 days, now, due to more severe damage to the power system and the lack of sufficient reserves, such interruptions can last up to 5-6 days, which will also affect the provision of heat.
Optimistic forecast from the EU
Despite pessimistic forecasts, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Maternova believes that while the winter will be difficult, the situation will not be catastrophic. Ukrainians can expect difficult conditions, but, according to the ambassador, critical power outages will be avoided.
MP Serhiy Nagornyak also emphasized that the power outages in winter largely depend on temperature conditions and the intensity of shelling from Russia.
