The coming days in Ukraine will be “difficult“, and the power supply situation remains “very challenging“ against the backdrop of damage to Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
This was announced by the country's Energy Ministry on its Telegram channel after a meeting of the emergency response headquarters in Kiev and the Kiev region.
“The loss of power as a result of the night attack created an additional significant power shortage, which is extremely difficult to cover, so the coming days will be difficult“, the statement said.
According to the ministry, Kiev residents are currently receiving electricity only for short periods of time – from an hour and a half to two hours.
Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko reported damage to the Darnytsia Thermal Power Plant on his Telegram channel. “The city has deployed additional points to maintain heating, in particular near homes left without heating as a result of critical damage to the thermal power plant caused by the strikes“, he wrote.
On the morning of February 7, Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal announced that the power units of Ukrainian nuclear power plants had been unloaded following damage to energy facilities across the country.
He reported damage to the Burshtyn Thermal Power Plant and the Dobrotvyr Thermal Power Plant. Burshtyn Mayor Vasyl Andrieshyn reported that the thermal power plant had stopped operating, describing the situation at the plant as “very difficult“.
There is no running water or heating in Burshtyn. "Yes, there is no heating at the moment. The situation at the plant is very difficult, but according to the emergency regulations, we must provide heating within 48 hours," Andrieshin said.
The mayor added that the source of heat could be either the thermal power plant or local boiler houses. If the heat is supplied by the Burshtyn thermal power plant, hot water will remain in homes; otherwise, it will be turned off, as will all private heating. The mayor asked residents to prepare for possible outages.
Power outages have begun in most regions of Ukraine. Previously published hourly outage schedules are no longer in effect. “Power outages will be stopped after the situation in the power grid stabilizes,“ said a statement from the Ukrainian energy holding company DTEK.
The national energy company “Ukrenergo“ has requested emergency assistance from Poland, Shmygal announced. Kiev and Poland can export electricity to each other if necessary for either country.
On the afternoon of February 7, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Russian forces had carried out a massive strike on Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities, as well as energy and transport facilities used by the Ukrainian armed forces. The Defense Ministry noted that the strike was a response to “the Kiev regime's terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure on Russian territory“.
The Burshtyn Thermal Power Plant is one of the most powerful thermal power plants in Ukraine (installed capacity: 2334 MW; the most powerful thermal power plant in Ukraine is the Vuglehirska TPP with a design capacity of 3600 MW). The plant previously supplied energy not only to the western regions of Ukraine, but also exported electricity to Europe. It was built at the intersection of power lines connecting Ukraine with Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Its main fuel is coal from Ukrainian coalfields, with natural gas and fuel oil serving as auxiliary fuels. All 12 power units were put into operation between 1965 and 1969.
Dmytro Sakharuk, former CEO of the Ukrainian energy holding DTEK, reported damage to the power plant in March 2024. At that time, he noted that the damaged power units could be restored. Later that year, Svetlana Onishchuk, head of the Ivano-Frankivsk regional administration, stated that the Burshtyn TPP could not be restored after the strikes.