“An attack on energy is not a new tactic for Russia.”, — write: www.unian.ua
An attack on energy is not a new tactic for Russia.
Russia is again trying to freeze Ukrainians / photo of the State Emergency Service of the Kirovohrad regionOn the eve of winter, Russia intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector. Moscow is trying to leave Ukrainians in the dark and cold.
The publication Foreign Policy writes that in October alone, the Russian Federation struck seven major strikes using drones and missiles against the Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Eastern cities, including Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Poltava, as well as Kyiv, were particularly badly affected.
An attack on energy is not a new tactic for Russia. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Moscow has been trying to disable Ukraine’s power system, with varying degrees of success. But this fall campaign is different.
First, the scale of Russian air attacks far surpasses previous ones – swarms of 600-700 drones overload air defense systems and can inflict concentrated strikes on previously stable parts of the energy system, be it generators or transformers. Secondly, for the first time on such a scale, Moscow is trying to disable not only the electric power industry, but also Ukraine’s natural gas extraction, storage and distribution systems.
“Russia changed its tactics from the very beginning. The difference was that the targets were electricity supply facilities. Now, in October, they are actually attacking everything – electricity, natural gas, fuel storage facilities. We need gas and electricity. They want to be sure that we will freeze, to push people to put pressure on the government,” said Andrian Prokip, an energy expert at the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center in Kyiv.
The first problem for Ukraine is that there is no easy way to strengthen the air defenses that are needed to protect power plants, substations, transformers, natural gas storage facilities and gas fields. Anti-aircraft missiles are expensive and ineffective against swarms of Russian AI-equipped drones, which can evade EWs and attack from angles, making interception difficult.
Another problem is that Russia’s increased energy attacks are quietly doing what Moscow has been openly trying to do for years – to separate eastern Ukraine from western Ukraine.
“Many generating facilities were destroyed on the eastern bank of the Dnieper,” Prokip said.
Although electricity production in Kyiv and further west was less affected, it is becoming increasingly difficult to physically connect the two halves of the country and prevent blackouts.
Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy system are the latest newsIn autumn, the Russian Federation intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s gas infrastructure. In particular, as of October 15, the enemy carried out three massive attacks on gas facilities, and since then the terror has continued. According to unofficial data, Russia destroyed about 60% of gas production in Ukraine.
In addition, Moscow systematically attacks Ukraine’s electricity system, which led to the introduction of blackout schedules. Only on the night of October 29, the Russian occupation army attacked the north of Odesa region, where energy and transport infrastructure facilities were hit.
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