ONLINE: Send Patriot missiles, Ukrainian energy workers ask | iRADIO

Ukrainian energy companies fear they will not be able to prepare the country for winter unless Kiev’s allies supply air defense systems such as US Patriots to help thwart Russian efforts to do more damage to already damaged power plants.

“Missiles strike fast. Repairs take a long time,” Oleh noted.

The United States has delivered some Patriot systems to Ukraine and announced a few days ago that it will send more after urgent pleas from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

A power plant owned by DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private electricity supplier, was left a mess of broken glass, smashed bricks and twisted pieces of metal in one section after a recent rocket attack. This coal-fired power plant is one of four enterprises belonging to DTEK that were hit in the attack.

The location of the power plant, the technical details of the damage and the full names of the employees cannot be published for security reasons. During a visit to the plant, state emergency workers in helmets and harnesses climbed the twisted roof of the giant building, assessing the extent of the damage and occasionally throwing away pieces of debris.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Foreign Policy magazine that half of Ukraine’s energy system was damaged as a result of the Russian attacks.

The article continues under the online report.

DTEK said it had lost 80 percent of its production capacity since the start of the Russian invasion last February. Nearly 180 airstrikes targeted its businesses. He estimates that it would take six months to two years to repair all the damaged power plants, even if Russia did not launch further attacks against them.

A shift leader named Ruslan was in the control room when the sirens went off. He sent his men to shelter in the basement, but he himself remained in place. The site of the attack was only a few meters away. He set off into darkness, dust and fire. He claims he wasn’t scared because he “knew what he had to do” – make sure his team was OK and then try to get involved in putting out the fire.

In the winter of 2022-23, Russia devastated Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and launched a new wave of attacks this March, during which the Trypil power plant near Kyiv, which is one of the largest in the country, was completely destroyed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin explained that the attacks were in retaliation for Ukrainian strikes against Russian oil refineries.

Change of tactics

Oleh says the Russians are “constantly learning” and adapting their tactics. Originally they focused on transformation stations, now they are targeting the infrastructure for the production of electricity with increasing precision. At the same time, they attack the same targets repeatedly.

DTEK Executive Director Dmytro Sacharuk said in March that of the ten facilities the company had repaired after earlier attacks, two-thirds had been hit again.

Ukrainian energy companies have almost run out of money, equipment and spare parts needed to repair the damage caused by Russia. Power plants urgently need special equipment, which cannot be produced quickly enough and in sufficient quantity in Ukraine.

Over 50 DTEK workers have been injured in Russian attacks since the beginning of the invasion, three have lost their lives. The company’s employees say they work despite the danger because they know how important their work is.

Dmytro, who was on duty during the recent attack and waited it out in a basement shelter with his colleagues, confides that his heart was bleeding when he saw the extent of the damage. “It was destroyed in a second, in an instant,” he says.

He previously worked at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, which was taken over by the Russians shortly after the invasion of Ukraine. He assures that he intends to go to work every day “as long as he is able.”

Petr Jadrný, CTK

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on LinkedIn

Print

Copy the url address

Abbreviated address





Copy to clipboard

Close