Russian strikes on Ukraine’s vitality services have destroyed half of its electrical energy technology capability since winter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on Tuesday.
Months of Russian strikes have prompted extreme vitality shortages in Ukraine, resulting in scheduled energy outages and blackouts.
“As a result of the strikes of Russian missiles and drones, nine gigawatts of capacity have already been destroyed. The peak of electricity consumption last winter was 18 gigawatts. So half now doesn’t exist,” Zelensky instructed a convention in Berlin.
Zelensky additionally urged allies to provide extra air defence techniques, saying: “It is missile and bomb terror that helps Russian troops advance on the ground.”
“Air defence is the answer,” he stated.
Ukraine’s state energy operator stated it was extending scheduled outages across the nation due to elevated consumption.
“Today… the period of application of hourly outage schedules throughout Ukraine has been extended — restrictions will be imposed from 2:00 pm to 11:00 pm,” Ukrenergo stated in an announcement.
The firm had introduced outages on Monday between 4-10:00 pm and had stated there could be outages on Tuesday between 2-7:00pm.
“The reason is that consumption continues to grow. At the same time, due to extensive damage, Ukrainian power plants cannot produce as much electricity as before the attacks,” the corporate stated.
Zelensky stated the strikes confirmed Russian President Vladimir Putin was attempting to “hone the practice of destroying energy facilities” together with connections between the Ukrainian and European vitality techniques.
Ukrenergo chairman Volodymyr Kudrytsky stated final week that it may take “years” for Ukraine to revive its full producing capability.
“We are dealing with an absolutely unprecedented scale of destruction,” he stated, including that the capability of thermal energy crops was at a “historic” low with “virtually no hydroelectric power plant that has not been damaged.”
“It is technically impossible to restore these damaged power plants quickly. It will take time: weeks, often months, sometimes years,” he stated in a media interview printed on Ukrenergo’s Telegram channel.
Asked whether or not Ukrainian vitality services constituted reputable army targets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated: “Without a doubt, in concrete cases this has to do with military infrastructure”.
Source: www.anews.com.tr