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Ukraine's energy system far from collapse despite weeks of Russian strikes

Recent Russian attacks have triggered substantial damage to the Ukrainian power system, however a. overall collapse is not likely, the head of Ukraine's nationwide grid. business Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said on Monday.

Because March 22, the Russian forces have been assaulting. Ukrainian thermal and hydropower stations as well as main. networks on an almost daily basis, which has actually caused blackouts in. numerous regions of the nation.

Their (the Russians') goal is to enforce blackouts in some. major Ukrainian cities, and our objective is to prevent it,. Kudrytskyi told in an interview.

The county's biggest private energy business, DTEK, has actually stated. the attacks damaged five of its 6 power plants, which lost 80%. of their capacity.

DTEK, which fulfills about a quarter of the nation's needs,. has seen its thermal power stations and other centers. consistently hit by Russian rockets, drones and weapons in more. than two years of war.

The missile attacks have likewise substantially damaged the. largest Ukrainian hydropower station in Zaporizhzhia, as well as. the Kaniv and Dnister stations.

The majority of Ukraine's electrical power is generated by 3 nuclear. power plants, but thermal and hydro generation are key to. stabilizing the system throughout usage peaks.

The greatest concern now is the state of electrical energy. production, the part of it that stabilizes the system - hydro and. thermal generation. The scale of damage DTEK describes is. certainly a worldwide (large-scale) level of damage, Kudrytskyi. said.

But he said that the nation's energy system was not close to. collapsing.

We are certainly not one action away from collapse. A. collapse is an unrestrained shutdown of most or the entire power. system. This has actually not happened and will not happen, this situation. we think about as unlikely, he stated.

Kudrytskyi said that Ukraine may see localised problems in. different areas, such as in the country's eastern city of. Kharkiv or in Odesa in the south.

The energy system of the Soviet Union, and later Ukraine,. was traditionally based on substantial power plants, however such. centers are very hard to secure from rocket. shelling.

Firstly, we need to consider our generation mix and. we require to think of how to protect our generation assets from. ( air) strikes, Kudrytskyi said.

This would just be possible if Ukraine constructs numerous. small power plants throughout the nation.

This process needs to start right away, he said.

(source: Reuters)