Energy minister: 7-8 November saw one of Russia's biggest attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure
Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk has said that Russia's attack on the night of 7-8 November was one of its largest direct ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, yet by the following evening, the energy system had been stabilised.
Source: Hrynchuk during the national joint 24/7 newscast on the evening of 8 November
Quote: "Last night saw one of the largest direct ballistic missile attacks on energy facilities – that is, on civilian energy infrastructure – which caused damage...
It's hard to recall such a number of ballistic missiles directly targeting energy facilities since the start of the war. So of course there are consequences."
Details: Hrynchuk added, however, that the system has already been "partially stabilised and switched to hourly outage schedules to make it easier for consumers to plan their actions around the power cuts".
She said that "claims suggesting that power engineers and other services were unprepared are completely false", emphasising that scheduled outages are necessary for repair and stabilisation work.
Quote: "The most difficult situation was in Kharkiv, Poltava and Donetsk oblasts, as well as in Sumy and Chernihiv oblasts, which were attacked again in the evening. Certain power lines were damaged, making it impossible to transmit sufficient electricity and causing voltage fluctuations. There has been some progress now."
Details: Hrynchuk said the attack had also caused damage to gas infrastructure, but it has already been partly repaired.
"We continue to work. The situation is not critical for now. We are also working to bring in additional [electricity] imports to ensure greater stability during the heating season. We have enormous support from our international partners on this," she noted.
Hrynchuk said this was the fifth large-scale missile attack on energy facilities since early October, and the seventh major attack on gas infrastructure.
Background:
- On 8 November, Russian forces attacked energy infrastructure facilities in Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.
- Russia carried out a large-scale missile and drone attack on gas infrastructure belonging to the Naftogaz Group, Ukraine's largest national oil and gas company, on the night of 7-8 November, with several hits being reported.
- A Russian attack that struck thermal power plants operated by Centrenergo, a major Ukrainian state-owned energy company, on the night of 7-8 November is reported to have been the heaviest since the start of the full-scale invasion. Power generation at the plants has been halted.
- On 8 November, Russia attacked a thermal power plant belonging to DTEK, the largest private energy company in Ukraine.
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