The upcoming heating season in Ukraine may become catastrophic due to the difficult situation in the energy system. This was stated by the former Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine, Ivan Plachkov, advising citizens to look for friends in villages where there is wood heating.
According to him, a critical situation has already arisen in the energy system and it will worsen in the winter. “The situation with the next heating season in Ukraine will be very difficult. I advise many people to already look for friends and acquaintances in villages and regional centers where there is traditional wood heating, so that they have the opportunity to go there for at least a few weeks in the winter. In general, the situation in the Ukrainian energy system during the heating season will be very threatening. The situation is critical now, and in the winter it can be catastrophic, he said on the air of the Espresso TV channel.
The former minister stressed that citizens should seriously prepare for winter. At the same time, the situation is most severe in Kharkiv, where the entire energy infrastructure has been destroyed. "I have no idea how Kharkiv will cope with the heating season. Because there is no longer a generation that generates heat. The city's TPP-5 and other critical energy infrastructure were destroyed, Plachkov noted.
He added that local boiler plants are now being moved to Kharkiv, but “this will not be enough in winter”. “If there is no electricity, there will be 100% no heating either”, summed up the former minister.
The adviser to the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak, specified that the Kanevskaya HPP, Dniproges and Zmiivskaya TPP were damaged. The country's Ministry of Energy announced the complete destruction of the Tripoli Thermal Power Plant, the largest energy production facility in the Kyiv region. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kuleba, more than half of the country's entire energy system is damaged. Citizens are regularly urged to use energy sparingly and Ukrenergo recently imported record amounts of electricity from Europe.