Ukraine could face severe power outages this winter after Russian attacks destroyed half of its power generation capacity, Politico reports.

Energy experts warn that a combination of cold weather and strikes on nuclear infrastructure could leave Ukrainians without electricity for up to 20 hours daily.

Since October 2022, Russian Armed Forces have struck more than 1,000 times at Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities. In late August alone, Moscow launched over 200 missiles and drones at power facilities, destroying eight power plants and more than 800 heat supply facilities.

“The situation is critical,” says Viktoriya Gryb, who heads the parliament’s energy security subcommittee.

A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, warns that “people will die in their homes because Russia is taking out the energy infrastructure.”

According to Gennadii Riabtsev from Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies, recent Russian attacks have eliminated more than 9 gigawatts of electrical generation capacity.

Ukraine now relies heavily on nuclear power, which provides 60% of its total output.

“Russian strikes will continue, and nothing can guarantee the protection of the newly restored facilities from attacks … due to a lack of multilevel air and missile defense systems,” Riabtsev said.

Energoatom, the state atomic firm, only began contracting protection measures in late September, according to energy analyst Oleksandr Kharchenko.

The Energy Community aims to restore 3 gigawatts of capacity and raise €1 billion by year-end, while the EU plans to export an additional 400 megawatts to Ukraine from 1 December.

Read also:

• Kremlin denies talks with Ukraine on abandoning energy attacks
• Zelenskyy: Mutual halt to airstrikes on energy infrastructure could bring war’s active phase to end
• Russia carried out more than 1,000 strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since October 2022