More than military bases or transport hubs in recent weeks, Russia has bombed Ukraine’s electricity and heating distribution networks.
A few weeks into winter in the region, Russian missile and drone attacks are hitting thermal power plants, electricity substations, transformers and pipelines. The result: continuous power cuts, downed water pump stations and widespread internet outages.
“This is a terrorist act planned with the help of competent Russian energy experts, which aims to shut down Ukraine’s power system. In other words, achieving a complete blackout in the country,” Oleksandr Kharchenko, CEO of the Energy Research Center in Kyiv, said on Friday.
A strategy emerges: As Russian forces suffered losses in September and this month, experts appeared in state media calling for Ukraine to be plunged into a dark, icy winter in revenge. That now seems to be the goal.
The casualties are relatively few, but the damage is excessive. Energy infrastructure is an obvious, static target that is difficult to defend without an extraordinary array of area defenses, which Ukraine has begged for by its western allies.
Maksym Timchenko, CEO of energy company DTEK, noted in a recent interview that Russia has been very selective in its targeting. He told Ekonomichna Pravda that the strikes were aimed not at generating capacities but at the gears of distribution: switchgear and transformers, or output equipment at thermal power plants.
“I think the Russian military is advised by their power engineers and they explain how to do maximum damage to the power system,” he said.
Ukrainian authorities are clearly struggling to keep up with an ever-growing list of repairs needed this month, and some infrastructure is beyond repair.
Source: CNN Brasil
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