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President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to the region around the Ukrainian city of Sumy

Photo: PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE \ apaimages / APAimages / IMAGO

As a result of Russian attacks, emergency power shutdowns have again occurred in several Ukrainian regions. The electricity supplier DTEK and regional authorities reported shortages in Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Poltava on Saturday evening. Kharkiv in the east, which is currently particularly hard hit by Russian shelling, also continues to have problems with its energy supply.

DTEK boss Dmytro Zacharuk said on national television that the waves of attacks on March 22 and 29 hit thermal and hydroelectric power plants "in almost all regions" and destroyed distribution systems. "To be precise, five out of six of our power plants were severely damaged, some units were destroyed, others were 50 percent or more damaged," he said.

Electricity generation capacity not utilized

His company suffered losses of $300 million on materials alone, while labor costs accounted for another half. "We have found that 80 percent of the available electricity generation capacity is now not working," he added.

The repairs will take months, in some cases even a year and a half. "Manufacturing a turbine, a generator or a transformer takes time, so you have to be prepared for the power supply to be restored gradually," explained Sacharuk.

Zelenskyj: “vile attacks”

In his evening video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj spoke of "hideous attacks" by the Russian army and once again urgently asked for more international help in protecting his country's energy infrastructure. "We have sent the necessary signals and concrete requests to all our partners who have the necessary air defense systems and missiles," he said. "America, Europe and other partners know exactly what we need."

After more than two years of aggressive war, Russia's army is now increasingly targeting the Ukrainian energy infrastructure in order to paralyze the population's supply of electricity and heat. This is why Kiev also speaks of “energy terror”.

jpa/dpa/Reuters