The Russians damaged or destroyed 5 of the 6 plants of the largest private energy company in Ukraine

The head of Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, DTEK, said five of its six plants had been damaged or destroyed, with 80% of capacity lost after two weeks of Russian attacks, and that repairs could take up to 18 months, informs Reuters.

Russian missile and drone attacks hit thermal and hydropower plants in central and western Ukraine overnight Friday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video address on Saturday night, said Russia was carrying out “vile strikes” aimed at “bleeding” Ukrainian energy.

“America, Europe, our other partners, everybody knows what we need,” he said. “Everyone knows how important it is now to help protect us from these attacks.”

DTEK provides about a quarter of the country’s needs, which is why thermal plants and other facilities have been repeatedly hit by Russian missiles, drones and artillery during more than two years of war.

DTEK chief executive Dmitro Sakharuk said on national television that the waves of attacks on March 22 and 29 had hit thermal and hydro production “in almost all regions” and that distribution facilities had been destroyed.

“To be more precise, five out of six of our stations were badly damaged, some units were destroyed, others were damaged by 50 percent or more,” he said.

“This is true for both the western and central regions, and both the equipment needed to produce electricity and to transport it from the station to the grid have been damaged,” he said.

The company suffered $300 million in losses on equipment alone, he said, while labor costs would require up to half that again. “We have determined that 80% of the available generation capacity is not working now,” he added.

A senior Centrenergo official said the 10-unit Zmiivska thermal power plant in northeastern Kharkiv region was destroyed in the March 22 attacks.

DTEK spent $110 million to restore 10 facilities hit by Russian attacks last year, Sakharuk said, two-thirds of which have now been destroyed again.

It will require months of repairs, he said, and in some cases up to a year and a half.

“It takes time to make a turbine or a generator or a transformer, so you have to be prepared for the fact that power will gradually come back,” he said.

Publisher: MI

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