Ukraine planning for complete blackout
KYIV, Ukraine — As they struggle to maintain what remains of an electricity grid heavily damaged by Russian missiles, officials in Ukraine's capital say they have begun planning for a once unthinkable possibility: a complete blackout that would require the evacuation of the city's approximately 2 million remaining residents.
The situation is already so dire, with 40 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure damaged or destroyed, that municipal workers in Kyiv are setting up more than 1,000 shelters that can double as bunkers with supplies and generators while engineers rush to try to fix bombed-out power stations.
To try to keep the grid from failing altogether, Ukraine's national energy utility said Saturday that it would impose rolling blackouts in seven regions.
The tremendous strain on Ukraine's power grid is the result of Russia targeting power plants, lines and substations across the country. The Russian strikes have heaped new suffering on Ukraine's civilians and forced officials to reckon with the possibility that further damage could render them unable to provide basic services.
“We understand that if Russia continues such attacks, we may lose our entire electricity system,” Roman Tkachuk, the director of security for Kyiv, said in an interview Friday. “That's why we are preparing for a cold winter.”
In addition to setting up the more than 1,000 “resiliency centers,” authorities in the city have equipped emergency vehicles with loudspeakers in case communications systems fail and have started a campaign to inform the public about evacuation rally points.
Officials are trying to strike a delicate balance between being prepared and trying not to set off panic. After the latest wave of strikes Monday, the pumps that drive running water in Kyiv failed, sending residents to old stone wells to fill jugs for drinking, washing and cooking. In the race between the Kremlin's effort to destroy infrastructure and Ukraine's struggle to rebuild, Moscow has an advantage. Although Ukraine has gotten better at shooting down attack drones, the small percentage that get through can cause extensive damage.
On Monday, Ukraine shot down 44 of 55 cruise missiles aimed at the energy grid. But some of the others hit key power plants and substations, including a substation that brings electricity to the capital. About 350,000 homes immediately lost power.
On Friday, a Russian missile hit a facility run by the distributor that brings power from the grid into people's homes. It was the 12th energy facility hit in the past month, the company said.
For now at least, there were no indications that large numbers of civilians are fleeing Kyiv, Tkachuk said. But that might change quickly if the city's power was cut.
“If there's no power, there will be no water and no sewage,” he said. “That's why currently the government and city administration are taking all possible measures to protect our power supply system.”