GDANSK, Poland, June 26, (v7n) – Ukraine's energy system "will be more prepared" for the upcoming cold season after Russian strikes plunged thousands into cold and darkness last winter, the head of Ukraine's biggest private energy provider told AFP on Friday.
"We will be more prepared, we learn our lessons from last winter," said Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, speaking on the sidelines of a conference on Ukrainian reconstruction in Poland. "That's our absolute priority and this is the mission of DTEK and other energy companies not to repeat last winter," he added, expressing "optimism" toward the upcoming heating season.
Near-daily barrages of Russian drones and missiles targeted Ukrainian energy sites last winter, forcing rolling power outages amid the harshest winter since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Temperatures plummeted to as low as -20°C as Russia battered energy facilities in strikes that Kyiv described as a deliberate attempt to terrorize civilians.
Since the invasion began in February 2022, Russia has launched at least 6,194 attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities, according to the country's energy ministry. Tens of thousands have been killed, millions have been forced to flee, and much of eastern and southern Ukraine lies in ruins.
Timchenko said the threat is also pushing Ukraine to accelerate its transition to renewable energy sources. "We need to build a new energy system in Ukraine, new generation that is much more resilient. A priority is in renewables—wind, solar, battery storage," he told AFP.
Under a plan adopted in 2024, Ukraine aims to have 27 percent of all electricity production come from renewables by 2030, up from 11 percent at present.
end/wd/rh/
