Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have brought the country “ever closer to a total blackout,” one of the country’s lawmakers said.
The Kyiv University of Economics Research Institute estimates that Russia has caused £13.5bn of damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Kyiv resident Kira Rudik told Sky News that homes in the city were without electricity for “most of the day”.
“I’m still speaking to you all on my diesel generator,” she said.
“It’s frightening that at this point we are completely unable to protect ourselves from these heinous attacks, and Russia continues to bring us closer and closer to a total blackout.”
“It’s unclear right now how we’ll survive the winter because the weather outside is still nice, but once it gets cold and people start expending more energy, we won’t be able to cope.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in June that Russia had destroyed 80 percent of Ukraine’s thermal power plants and a third of its hydroelectric power.
But this week he declined to elaborate on what further damage Monday’s attack may have caused.
“I don’t really like energy PR,” he said. “It doesn’t do much good if your enemies know what damage you’ve done.”
“Information about the status of our energy facilities and what we are currently doing there will remain confidential.”
