- Sustained Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid have damaged half the country’s energy system and forced Ukrainian leaders to institute nationwide rolling blackouts.
- Power shortages could worsen as need spikes in the summer and winter.
- German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock joined Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko on a visit to a destroyed power plant. Ukraine hopes to acquire spare parts from decommissioned German plants,
Sustained Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid in recent weeks have forced leaders of the war-ravaged country to institute nationwide rolling blackouts. Without adequate air defenses to counter assaults and allow for repairs, though, the shortages could still worsen as need spikes in late summer and the bitter-cold winter.
The Russian airstrikes targeting the grid since March have meant blackouts have even returned to the capital, Kyiv, which hadn’t experienced them since the first year of the war. Among the strikes were an April barrage that damaged Kyiv’s largest thermal power plant and a massive attack on May 8 that targeted power generation and transmission facilities in several regions.
In all, half of Ukraine’s energy system was damaged, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.