On the night of November 8, Russia launched one of the most powerful ballistic missile attacks aimed at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. This was reported by the Minister of Energy, Svitlana Hrynchuk, during a live broadcast on a telethon.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Reactions from Energy Workers and Recovery Measures
According to Hrynchuk, immediately after the strike, energy workers were forced to implement emergency power outages, and later – special schedules for emergency disconnections. These measures were introduced in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions.
“Then we managed to stabilize the system a bit and switch to hourly disconnection schedules, making it easier for consumers to plan their actions regarding power outages,” she said.
The Minister emphasized that to restore the energy system’s operation, it was necessary to use disconnection schedules, as otherwise, repairs and equipment restart would be impossible. Hrynchuk also noted that criticism regarding the insufficient preparation of energy workers is unfounded, as any repair work requires temporary disconnection of the systems.
Assessment of Consequences and Further Steps
Svitlana Hrynchuk stressed the importance of cooperation between the government and heads of regional military administrations. The main goal is not only to assess the scale of destruction but also to coordinate actions regarding the deployment of alternative power sources and modular boiler houses for the rapid restoration of energy and heating supply in the affected regions.
According to her assessment, the most significant destruction occurred in Kharkiv, Poltava, and Donetsk regions, as well as in Sumy and Chernihiv, which were subjected to repeated attacks in the evening. Despite the difficulties, the minister noted a “certain success” in eliminating the consequences of the shelling.
Hrynchuk also mentioned that such a number of ballistic missiles aimed directly at energy facilities was recorded for the first time during the full-scale war, making the consequences significant.
After the massive attack, “Ukrenergo” announced energy consumption restrictions on November 9 – from two to four stages. The company “DTEK” confirmed damage to one of its thermal power plants.
According to the Air Forces, on the night of November 8, Russian troops launched 45 missiles, of which 32 were ballistic, as well as 458 drones. Ukrainian air defense forces managed to destroy or suppress 415 aerial targets. It is known that as a result of the attack in Dnipro, three people were killed.