Russian attacks on Ukraine have destroyed 30% of Ukraine’s grid, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Zelensky said this was “another kind of Russian terrorist attacks”, blaming President Vladimir Putin.
The attacks have caused “massive blackouts across the country”, the Ukrainian president continued, saying there was “no space left for negotiations with Putin’s regime”.
Energy provider DTEK reported a missile attack yesterday on its facilities. The Russian attack killed one employee and injured seven others, it said.
Russian forces attacked another three of DTEK’s power plants on October 10-11. They attacked another thermal power plant on October 17 and two more attacks on October 18.
“Russia is destroying Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in order to leave Europe dependent on Russian energy sources. This is energy terrorism,” said a DTEK representative.
“It may result in a total destruction of the energy sector, leaving millions of people without heat and energy supply before and through the winter.”
As a result of the attacks, DTEK put out an urgent call for equipment from its Western partners. The company said it needed:
- Mobile substation and complete transformer substations.
- Circuit breakers, different voltage classes
- Power transformers and current transformers
- Cable products, insulators, coupling capacitors
A Russian attack in late September injured 14 DTEK employees at a bus stop, where they had been waiting for a transfer to their shift. The company said since the war began 83 employees had been killed and 197 seriously injured.
European steps
In addition to attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Russia has also been blamed for sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines – which it denies.
The European Commission set out a five-point plan to strengthen critical infrastructure resilience this week. The body said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “has brought new risks, physical and cyber-attacks, often combined as a hybrid threat”.
The Commission highlighted the importance and vulnerability of cross-border links.
“In view of fast-evolving threats, with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the sabotage of Nord Stream and the German rail network – it’s clear we need to accelerate our work to protect our infrastructure,” Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson said.