Ukraine has received two documents that, according to Energy Minister Denys Shmygal, describe Russia's preparations for winter strikes on Ukraine's energy and utility infrastructure. The plans specify targets, types of weapons and the quantities needed to hit individual sites.
According to Shmygal, the systems for electricity generation and transmission, heat supply, water supply, sewage and interconnectors through which Ukraine exchanges electricity with Europe and other parts of the country are threatened. The minister said that the documents contain tables with specific calculations for ballistic missiles, jet drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles.
„There are two large documents, very cold and very clearly written. With tables, with the amount of weapons needed for each object to be destroyed“, said Shmygal on the telethon.
Over 200 protected energy facilities
The Ukrainian authorities are preparing protection for key facilities. According to Shmygal, over 200 capital-intensive concrete shelters have already been built over objects designated as priority targets. Protective screens, as well as nets against FPV drones, are also being installed.
“More than 200 shelters have already been built — capital concrete facilities over objects that are a priority for the Russians. Protective screens are also being installed and nets against FPV drones are being deployed“, the minister said. He added that a reserve of equipment is being accumulated together with international partners, since not all facilities can be protected with concrete alone.
A complete Internet collapse is not expected
Sergei Beskrestnov, the presidential adviser on the development of technological directions in defense, said that Russian attacks on the network infrastructure will not leave all of Ukraine without the Internet. According to him, the distributed structure of Internet channels allows services to continue to operate at the national level.
“The Russians are attacking our information network infrastructure. But Ukraine is a country with the most distributed Internet channels, so the entire country - regions and cities - will not be left without the Internet. Local outages are possible, which I hope providers will quickly eliminate“, Beskrestnov wrote.
He warned that Internet services could become more expensive if providers have to compensate for the costs of repairing damaged facilities. Following an attack on Kiev data centers on September 24, several providers reported failures and outages, and a day earlier, UTELS and Pautina data centers were affected.
Sources: Ukrainska Pravda, TSN