'Extremely serious' — Ukraine's battered energy system faces worst day in 3 years, Shmyhal says
Ukraine on Jan. 22 experienced "the most difficult day for the energy system" since the first year of Russia's full-scale war, Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
Shmyhal's remarks come amid an ever-worsening energy crisis that has left major urban centers without heat, electricity, and water in freezing temperatures. The humanitarian emergency is a result of Russia's deliberate attacks on Ukraine's critical energy facilities — key infrastructure Russia has tried to wipe out every winter since 2022.
"Today in Ukraine was the most difficult day for the energy system since the blackout in November 2022," Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.
Russia's attacks have damaged generating equipment and broken distribution networks and transformers, forcing continuous emergency shutdowns, he said.
"The situation is extremely serious. ... The most difficult situation is in Kyiv, Kyiv Oblast, and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast."
Kyiv's energy system is still reeling from large-scale Russian attacks on Jan. 9 and Jan. 20. In between those mass strikes, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Jan. 14 declared a state of emergency in the energy sector.
Attempts to repair damaged facilities in the capital are complicated by the realities of war, Shmyhal said. The energy minister noted that as repair crews worked in the evening to restore power to impacted families, Kyiv experienced 2,000 aerial alerts.
While Russia's latest mass attack failed to disconnect substations servicing Ukraine's nuclear power plant substations, it had a devastating impact on residents of Kyiv. The attack left 5,635 buildings without heating — nearly 50% of the city's housing stock.
Kyiv is home to over 3 million people — more than the urban population of Chicago, the third-largest city in the United States.
In the first year of the full-scale invasion, Russia launched major attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure on Nov. 15 and Nov. 23, 2022, aiming to destabilize the power grid and disrupt morale. The strikes caused large-scale blackouts, leading to a 60% increase in the number of people fleeing the country.
Shmyhal acknowledged the severity of stress and anxiety brought on by Russia's campaign, but urged Ukrainians to show patience for repair workers, who he called "real heroes."
"The enemy not only shells our infrastructure, but also tries to destabilize our society," he said.
