Ukraine might face minimal power outages in the next three months if Russia does not carry out new attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, the advisor to the prime minister on energy issues, Yurii Boiko, said on national television on July 30.
Russia carried out a massive campaign of aerial attacks against Ukraine's energy infrastructure over the spring, similar to the one launched during the fall and winter of 2022-23.
The damage caused a serious energy deficit and necessitated rolling blackouts across the country.
Boiko said that the amount of electricity generated in the system increased due to decreases in weather temperatures and the restoration of some energy-generating facilities.
"We are now more or less in balance in terms of our energy situation," Boiko said. He nevertheless emphasized that to keep the energy supply at the current levels, Ukraine needs to concentrate on protecting the repaired infrastructure from new attacks. For that, Ukraine needs more air defense systems.
Earlier, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of state grid operator Ukrenergo, commented that after a "very difficult couple of weeks" due to record-breaking heat and power plants being under repair, Ukraine's energy supply situation is improving.
Due to the heatwave in mid-July, the energy consumption in Ukraine hit maximum levels, leading to significant energy shortages in the system and causing necessary scheduled blackouts, sometimes lasting up to 20 hours.
DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, said it had lost nearly 90% of its generating capacity due to the Russian attacks earlier this year. The company said it aims to recover 60-70% of its power generation capacity by October.
Daria Shulzhenko
