Russia has damaged more than 800 Ukrainian energy assets since September
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Russia has carried out more than 350 attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since September, damaging more than 800 pieces of equipment, Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.
The strikes are increasing pressure on the country’s power system as the heating season approaches. Ukraine is stepping up efforts to protect energy facilities while expanding generation capacity to reduce the impact of further attacks on an already crippled system after years of Russian missile and drone attacks.
Speaking during a question-and-answer session with the government in parliament, Shmyhal said the damaged equipment included facilities at substations and power generation sites.
He said a second level of physical protection had been built for 235 transformers. According to the minister, only one piece of protected equipment had been hit by a ballistic missile over the past six months.
"Without this protection, restoring energy facilities under the current intensity of Russian attacks would take months," Shmyhal said.
Alongside protecting existing infrastructure, Ukraine is working to expand its electricity generation capacity through smaller, decentralized power plants.
On Oct. 29, the government approved the mechanism and terms for providing almost Hr 939 million ($20 million) in loan financing from the Finnish-Ukrainian Investment Fund to state-owned energy company Ukrnafta.
The funding will support four projects to install gas-engine power plants in the western Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv oblasts, adding around 60 megawatts of capacity to Ukraine’s power system, Shmyhal reported.
The money will cover the purchase of the power plants and related equipment, as well as installation, testing and commissioning. The loans were raised for Ukraine’s state budget under a framework agreement between the Ukrainian and Finnish governments signed in November 2024.
The projects are part of broader efforts to develop distributed generation, spreading electricity production across multiple locations rather than relying solely on large power plants.
