Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said that Russia has conducted more than 30 mass strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the beginning of its full-scale invasion three years ago.
Each large-scale attack on the energy sector involves 100-200, and now 300 different munitions that simultaneously hit power generation facilities, substations, power lines, and gas infrastructure, Halushchenko wrote on Facebook on 24 February 2025.
The minister stated that material losses from Russian attacks have amounted to “billions of dollars.”
“Russia is committing crimes by attacking facilities critical to the operation of nuclear power plants, threatening to cause a nuclear disaster,” Halushchenko said.
According to the minister, Russian troops have occupied territories hosting energy facilities that produce 18 gigawatts of power generation. These occupied facilities include hydroelectric power plants, thermal power plants, and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the largest in Europe.
On 24 February 2022, a few hours before the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine was disconnected from the energy systems of Russia and Belarus. “It was an isolation regime planned for 3 days, but Ukraine did not return to the enemy’s power grid,” the minister said. Ukriane’s power system withstood 21 days and eventually joined the European system on 16 March, gaining energy independence.
The Russian military regularly attacks Ukrainian energy and civilian infrastructure with various types of weapons almost daily.
Russia’s leadership denies that the Russian army deliberately targets the civilian infrastructure of Ukrainian cities and villages, killing civilians and destroying hospitals, schools, kindergartens, energy and water supply facilities. Ukraine qualifies these strikes as war crimes by the Russia and emphasise that they are of a targeted nature.
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