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Four days after Russia a large part of the Ukrainian energy infrastructure has been shut down, the power will recover slowly. However, experts are expecting a long and cold winter for Ukrainians. What can Europe do to help Ukraine during the winter?
While the temperature rises to just above freezing, Ukrainians still have limited access to electricity and water. The country’s grid operator said yesterday that three-quarters of its energy needs can be met. The city council of the capital Kyiv reports that the power supply in that city has been almost completely restored.
However, according to experts, this does not immediately mean that Ukraine can breathe a sigh of relief. As long as the war continues, Russia will continue to attack energy targets in Ukraine, thinks Willem Coppoolse. He is group director of a Ukrainian energy company. The damage is great, he says. “Many transformer stations have been affected. These are the switching points where electricity goes from production sites to people. It takes a long time to rebuild them.”
“The energy system fell like dominoes”
He explains that the system fell like a row of dominoes. “No electricity means not only no heat, but also no water. The heat and water supplies run on pumps and fail if there is no electricity.”
Europe and the United States are sending diesel generators to the country to start the power supply. For example, hospitals can be supplied with electricity again: In addition to wastewater treatment plants and gas distribution facilities, they have priority over the electricity grid, says grid operator Ukrenergo. Meanwhile, the energy supply of households is slowly but surely increasing again.
According to Coppoolse, it is important in the short term that Europe continues to send aggregates. “You can never have enough of them. You can hook them up to the grid in one neighborhood and then you’ll have little power plants dotted around cities.” On Friday, European Commission President Von der Leyen promised, among other things, 200 medium-sized transformers from Lithuania and 40 heavy-duty generators from Romania.
The power outage has led to serious problems in hospitals:
Ukrainian hospitals are grappling with constant power outages
The energy expert thinks Russia’s attacks on the electricity grid will trigger a new flow of refugees. “You can’t live in a house without electricity, water and heat.”
The flow of refugees as a target
Former army commander Mart de Kruif believes the possible flow of refugees is a major goal of President Putin. Ukraine’s weak point, De Kruif stresses, is support from the West. “By creating an influx of refugees with people coming west, Putin thinks support will decrease.”
Foreign Minister Hoekstra said on Friday that the Netherlands was fleeing Ukrainians will receive again. “We have always said that we are in favor of being welcomed in our region and this is our region.”
He called Russian missile attacks on electrical facilities outrageous. “This means that Putin is really targeting the civilian population.”
“Continue to support Ukraine with weapons”
It’s hard to say how long Russia can sustain these airstrikes, according to former commander De Kruif. “It depends on what arsenal the Russians still have and they are increasingly dependent on the missiles they can get from abroad: North Korea and Iran in particular.”
In the military field, he considers it important to continue supporting Ukraine with arms deliveries. Furthermore, Europe could hinder the export of weapons from North Korea and Iran. “Then Russia cannot support these operations.”
