Crippling blackouts have resumed across Ukraine after Russia devastated the country’s electrical grid this spring. With energy shortages expected to persist deep into the winter, Canada should step up and supply the Ukrainians with portable generators, especially if this aid is structured in a way that supports Canadian manufacturers.

Since March, Moscow has destroyed half of Ukraine’s energy-generating capacity by bombing thermal power plants, hydroelectric power stations and energy storage facilities. These attacks were made possible by delays in western arms shipments earlier this year, which left Ukrainian air defences so critically low on ammunition that missiles and drones routinely overwhelmed them.