Ukraine energy crisis as ‘billions of cubic meters’ needed for winter after Russia bombings

THE Ukraine government has warned that the country will face a major winter shortage of gas and electricity after Russian bombings.

Ukraine‘s Minister of Energy, Herman Halushchenko, revealed today that the country will have to import energy supplies in winter due to the bomb damage in its electrical installations.

“We have calculated the consumption and we have seen that we still need to import some quantities, but during the winter, not before,” the minister said in an interview with Reuters.

“We are talking about billions of cubic meters.”

Halushchenko went on to say that the Russian bombs have destroyed more than half of the power generation capacity of Ukrainian thermal power plants.

Despite Russia’s war in Ukraine, the country has not stopped sending gas through the country, reports El Pais. Halushchenko said that he had noticed a reduction in volumes since before the war.

“From November (2021) they began to decrease the volume of 109 million cubic meters per day, to between 36 and 38 million,” he said. “It is a kind of pressure on European countries, to divide the solidarity of the EU against Russia.” 

The energy plants were hit by Russian missiles on Wednesday, with citizens urged to ‘charge everything’ because of expected power cuts caused by Russian missile strikes.

Grid operator Ukrenergo also urged Ukrainians to stock up with water and ensure they have “warm socks and blankets and hugs for family and friends”, the BBC reports.

This followed Russian missile strikes on Kyiv that hit critical infrastructure in the early hours of Saturday, October 15. Major energy infrastructure in the Kyiv region suffered severe destruction following Russian missile strikes.

Ukrenergo posted on Facebook: “We ask consumers to consume electricity sparingly, especially from 17.00 to 23.00! Please do not use energy-intensive electrical appliances, turn off unnecessary lighting, and postpone washing until night hours.

“Such measures give our specialists the opportunity to stabilize the situation as soon as possible and carry out the necessary restoration work.”

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