During the winter, Russia targeted the infrastructure in Ukrainian cities, especially energy facilities, which were heavily bombed by Russian missiles and kamikaze drones.

However, despite the Russian raids, the last of which was on March 9, the electricity in Ukrainian cities was soon back to work.

How did the Ukrainians survive the winter and win the energy battle that few thought they would win?

A report published by the British magazine The Economist states that the first phase of Russia's bombing campaign targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure targeted hundreds of high-voltage electricity transformers.

The danger of the campaign targeting energy infrastructure during the winter lies in the fact that the absence of electricity means the absence of gas and water, the breakdown of sewage, and the absence of heating, and this is what made some expect that cities would freeze and that Ukraine would witness a humanitarian crisis that would push millions of refugees outside the country’s borders, according to the magazine. .

But this did not happen thanks to factors summarized in the magazine's report in good preparation, luck, quick thinking, and new air defense systems that arrived in Ukraine at the right time.

More than 100 people working in the field of energy in Ukraine were killed in those attacks.


When Kyiv plunged into darkness

The magazine notes that the darkest days of that campaign for the Ukrainians were in late November of last year, when the Russians rained down the capital's infrastructure with a barrage of 67 missiles on November 23, causing the city's electricity system to stop. automatically to protect himself.

The attacks cut off all electricity to Kiev for several hours, according to Serhiy Kovalenko, CEO of Yasno, which supplies the capital.

It was not clear when the power grid would be back up and running, and if the damaged grid could carry the necessary currents when it did.

There was talk that the city would have to drain the water in the heating systems, for fear it would freeze in the pipes and then crack.

Commenting on those difficult days, the magazine quotes Kovalenko as saying, "It was a really scary moment; we didn't know if it was going to take hours, days or even weeks. We were happy when the network was slowly back up and running later that same day."


"Deadly Chess"

The Economist said that as the Russian campaign continued, the Ukrainians became more adept at fending off aerial bombardment and repairing the damage it was doing on the ground.

It quoted Yuriy Ihnat, a colonel in the Ukrainian Air Force Command, as saying that the operation has now become like a game of chess with the risk of death. "The enemy is trying to deceive us, and we are trying to deceive him."

The Russians seek to locate and destroy Ukrainian air defenses using all the tools at their disposal, including the A-50 early warning aircraft that detect Ukrainian missile launchers, as well as through drones, satellites, and a network of spies.

Ukraine is responding to this with its own methods, including war tricks, such as setting up fake missile launchers, and keeping air defenses in constant motion as much as possible.

The magazine highlighted that electricity was not cut off from Kiev for 4 weeks during the last period before the last Russian missile attack on March 9, which was the 15th attack since the beginning of winter, and that Ukrainian engineers are now practicing repairing the network faster whenever it is bombed.

And she concluded that the Russian attacks represented a test for those in charge of the energy sector in Ukraine this winter, but the return of electricity to most of the country's cities quickly means that Ukraine is still winning a historic battle that few expected to win.