As winter cold sets in across Ukraine, concerns are growing that Russia will soon resume large-scale attacks on the power grid, repeating a tactic it used last year to try to break the will of Ukrainians by plunging them into cold and darkness.
Those fears are compounded by what Ukrainian experts and current and former officials say is an energy system that is more fragile than it was a year ago.
In interviews, they described power plants still hobbled by Russian attacks last winter, unfinished repairs to substations and shortages of critical equipment like transformers.
The Ukrainian authorities declined to provide detailed data on the current state of the power grid, saying it was sensitive information in wartime.
“Not a lot has changed since then,” Victoria Voytsitska, a former lawmaker and senior member of the Ukrainian Parliament’s energy committee, said in an interview.
Persons:
“, Victoria Voytsitska, ”
Organizations:
United
Locations:
Ukraine, Russia, United Nations, Ukrainian