Winter heating at risk: Expert identifies vulnerable cities
The Managing Director of the Energy Industry Research Center, Oleksandr Kharchenko, expressed this opinion in a comment to Ukrinform.
According to him, in the fuel sector, the country is protected thanks to a decentralized supply system and access to European and global markets: “Ukraine has a unique system that is completely decentralized. We can trade on wheels and supply the entire country with gasoline, diesel, and everything needed.”
At the same time, Kharchenko emphasized that the most deficit areas in terms of electricity supply are large cities and regions outside the frontline: “There is no worse situation in terms of potential power outages than in Odesa and Kyiv. These are two very deficit energy regions.”
The greatest threat, the expert noted, is possible Russian strikes on thermal generation in certain cities, particularly in frontline regions. “The only part of the energy system that concerns me today is thermal generating in certain cities. There, the barbarians may actually decide in winter to deprive cities of heating. And this is the biggest danger,” Kharchenko added.
Kharchenko stressed that despite the risks, emergency crews are working faster than at the beginning of the full-scale war, and thanks to international support, the necessary reserves have been created to get through the winter without large-scale blackouts.
As reported by Ukrinform, during the day on September 7, Russians attacked energy facilities in several regions, and power engineers have already reconnected part of the de-energized consumers.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko stated that by the start of the heating season, 115,000 buildings and nearly 22,000 social facilities have been prepared, and the readiness of infrastructure across key sectors exceeds 80%.
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