Ongoing Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid have caused the country’s leaders to introduce nationwide rolling blackouts. If there aren’t enough ways to protect against attacks and make repairs, the shortages could get even worse when more people need things in the late summer and winter.
The Russian airstrikes hitting the power system since March have caused blackouts to happen again in Kyiv, the capital city. This hadn’t happened since the first year of the war. There were some attacks in April and May that damaged a big power plant in Kyiv and targeted other power facilities in different areas.
Half of Ukraine’s energy system was broken, according to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Whole buildings in the main city lost power. The city’s military leaders said that at least 10% of people had their electricity or water cut off.
For a lot of people, this is a small example of what could happen if Ukraine doesn’t find other ways to get electricity before winter.
Early on Wednesday morning, a Russian drone attack caused a power outage in the city of Sumy in northern Ukraine. The city of about 250,000 people got some of its power back in the morning as workers quickly fixed the damage, according to local officials.
The power grid keeps getting attacked and there’s no good way to stop it. So, we can’t quickly fix the electricity shortages, according to Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko. Ukraine is asking Western friends for more air defense systems and spare parts to repair its old Soviet factories.
“We are losing more and more power with each attack, so our power generation is decreasing,” said Halushchenko on Tuesday outside a coal-fired plant in central Ukraine that was destroyed in an attack on April 11th. Until the military can protect the plant from more attacks, trying to fix it would be pointless.
The minister wondered if it was a good idea to fix the power stations if the Russians would just attack again and we couldn’t protect ourselves.
The German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock went with him to the plant, showing how much Ukraine really needs to fix their power problem fast.
The grid will have its first big test in July and August when people use a lot of electricity because of the summer heat. It will be a challenge for the grid because the amount of electricity used will be similar to what is used in the winter when it’s very cold.
In mid-May, people in Kyiv started to experience the results of Russia’s attacks. A sudden cold weather caused people to use more electricity. This made Ukrenergo, the main company that manages the power grid, to have to turn off electricity in some areas of the country. Ukraine doesn’t have enough electricity for peak times in the evening, and it can’t get enough from other countries like Poland, Slovakia, and Romania.
The plant was attacked on April 11 and it destroyed the machines that make electricity. This is what Yevhen Harkavyi, the technical director of Centerenergo, who runs the plant, said.
On that day, five missiles hit the building. Workers were still removing debris on Tuesday while fluffy poplar cotton fell through a hole in the roof like snow.
Harkavyi said the goal for winter is to fix as much power generation as they can. He admitted that it’s not clear how it will happen. He said, “The situation is already too difficult. “
Ukraine wants to get parts from old German factories that are no longer in use. Harkavyi said that Ukrainian teams went to Germany to check the equipment. It was turned off because it doesn’t meet EU environmental rules. European friends might not want to spend money on Ukraine’s coal energy because they are trying to be more eco-friendly. We will have to wait and see what they decide.
The teams are still figuring out how to bring the equipment back to Ukraine, he said.
“He said this is the first question. ” Ukraine wants air defense systems for protection. They are asking for help from Mrs. The Minister (Baerbock) has seen a lot of destruction and will ask the whole world for help.
Tag: Kiev
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Russian attacks on Kiev’s electrical grid in Ukraine result in blackouts
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Germany’s foreign minister in Kiev as Ukraine struggles to repel Russian attacks
The foreign minister of Germany has visited to Kyiv to show support for Ukraine. NATO countries, like Germany, have been slow to send weapons and ammunition, which has made Ukraine vulnerable to recent Russian attacks.
Annalena Baerbock asked for help from other countries to send more air defense systems to Berlin because Russia is attacking Ukraine with missiles, glide bombs, and rockets. Germany gives the second most military help to Ukraine after the United States.
Ukraine’s soldiers don’t have enough people and are trying to stop a strong attack from Russia at the border. This is a very important part of the war, which has been going on for three years.
Germany promised to give Ukraine another US-made Patriot battery, but Ukraine still doesn’t have enough air defenses to protect against the Russian attack.
The Kremlin’s forces have used their advantage in the sky to weaken Ukraine’s power grid. They hope to make Ukrainian people feel tired and disrupt the defense industry.
Baerbock visited a power plant in Ukraine with the Ukrainian Energy Minister. The plant was badly damaged on April 11. At the damaged inside of the plant, employees of Centrenergo, a government company that runs the plant, were still cleaning up debris a few weeks after it was hit.
The Ukraine President said that Russian troops are still attacking the eastern Donetsk and northeastern Kharkiv areas with explosive bombs, causing damage to both military and civilian areas.
“We need air defence to protect our warriors and cities from threats. It’s important to have additional defence systems to make things easier for us,” Zelenskyy said on social media on Monday.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine still has control of the disputed areas, but Russia says it has taken some border villages.
We couldn’t confirm either side’s claims about the fighting on the battlefield on our own.
Baerbock had plans to go to Kharkiv on Tuesday but she had to cancel the trip because it wasn’t safe, according to the German news agency dpa. Nearly 11,000 people have left Kharkiv border areas because of Russia’s attack on May 10th.
A drone attack from Russia damaged many trucks, buses, and other vehicles in Kharkiv city. The regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said that over 25 vehicles were damaged. Seven people got hurt, he said.
Ukraine’s military leaders said that the number of Russian attacks in Kharkiv slowed down on Monday, but the fighting still continued.
Russian soldiers are spying and attacking in Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions. They are shooting at villages near the border and putting down more mines, said Dmytro Lykhovii, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s military. The front line is about 1,000 kilometers or 620 miles long.
Baerbock was supposed to meet with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv. The German leader, Olaf Scholz, has been saying no to Ukraine’s request for Taurus missiles. These missiles can fly for 500 kilometers and are hard to detect.
The missiles made in Germany and Sweden can travel a long distance and could hit targets far inside Russia if launched from Ukraine. But Berlin doesn’t want to send the missiles because it might make them get involved in the war.
A think tank in Washington said that Ukraine is not allowed to attack Russia, so they can’t stop Russian troops and equipment from getting ready to attack Ukraine.
An object to form a compound is a big problem for the US. Western decisions are making it hard for Ukraine to protect itself from Russian attacks in northern Kharkiv and other places near the border. The Institute for the Study of War said this on Monday.
Baerbock said that Ukraine should join the European Union because of Russia’s illegal war.
Ukraine has done really well and needs to keep making changes to the legal system, fighting corruption, and protecting freedom of the media.
Germany is going to have a meeting to help Ukraine rebuild next month. Rebuilding the country will cost a lot of money, maybe hundreds of billions of dollars. -
Melanie Joly in Kiev to start global campaign to persuade Russia to return Ukrainian children
Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, is visiting Ukraine for two days to focus on bringing back children who have been taken by Russia.
“We continue to strongly support Ukraine’s freedom and independence,” she said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.
Ukraine’s fans will keep going; we can’t lose hope or doubt, not even for a second.
Joly had a meeting with Dmytro Kuleba, who is from Ukraine. She is also planned to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Canadian government has not said if they will give more money to the $9. 7 billion they already promised for Ukraine’s military, development, and immigration programs.
Joly started a project with Ukraine to ask other countries for help in making Russia bring back many Ukrainian children it sent away from war areas, which breaks the rules of the world.
The International Criminal Court has a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin. They say he made kids from eastern Ukraine go live in Russian families and made them forget they were from Ukraine.
The new Canadian project wants to make more people aware of the problem and work together on campaigns to support it.
Canada will use its connections with other countries to reach out and talk to them as if they were Canadian children. This will happen in many different countries, like Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, and Qatar.
Ottawa will help Ukraine by offering technical help to get children back from Russia. Less than 400 children have been returned so far.
During the trip, Joly also wants to meet with Ukrainians hurt by the war, including children, and groups that help people who have been hurt by violence and trauma from war.
Canada and its friends promise to continue helping Ukraine for as long as it takes. They will also help prevent Russian aggression even after the conflict ends.
Public support for Ukraine has decreased in countries like the U. Sduring ongoing high prices and fighting in the Middle East.
Canada has not made a formal agreement with Ukraine about security yet. They have been talking for months about how much support Canada will give to help keep Ukraine safe.
Kuleba said that Canada is one of Ukraine’s best friends and praised Ottawa for the support it provides. He also mentioned that Canada brings up important topics at G7 meetings.
He said talks about the security promise are going well, and are not complicated by polite words. “He said we can talk about things honestly and openly. ”
Next month, it will be ten years since Russia invaded Crimea, and it has been two years since they invaded Ukraine.