Half of Ukraine's energy system damaged by Russian strikes, FM Kuleba says

"Russian ballistic missiles are the real scourge of this war. They’ve been mainly used recently to destroy our energy system," he said.

Kuleba argued that if any other country had experienced energy destruction on such a scale, "it would look much, much worse than Ukraine." According to the minister, "we hold on because we have learned a lot, we are resilient. We know what the stakes are."

"But just to give an understanding to your viewers, half our energy system is damaged and we still have to run the country, run the war effort, and rally the world’s support," Kuleba stated.

The minister stressed that, among other things, Ukraine needs air defense systems and missile interceptors to stop Russian missiles falling — "literally on the heads of Ukrainians and on our energy infrastructure."

Kuleba called on the allies to develop strategies, looking for problems on their side, and not on the side of Ukraine, because putting all the responsibility on Ukraine's shoulders "means consciously waiving yourself of responsibility."

"But every Russian missile that hits a Ukrainian energy facility deprives Ukrainians of electricity. If it kills civilians, it does that because someone did not supply an air defense system or an interceptor to help Ukraine avoid that," he concluded.

The latest attacks on the Ukrainian energy system

In the spring of 2024, Russia again began massively attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities in various regions.

Kharkiv was left "virtually completely without power" for some time. Russia also attacked the Dnipro HPP, the largest hydroelectric power plant in Ukraine, and completely destroyed the Trypillia Thermal Power Plant in Kyiv Oblast.

In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russian army has already attacked DTEK thermal power plants almost 180 times.