The Kremlin has argued that attacks on energy facilities in Ukraine are justified because they are partly aimed at disrupting electricity supplies to military facilities.
“Of course this (power grid) is associated with military personnel
infrastructure in specific cases,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, according to Russian news agencies. He was asked whether he considered the Ukrainian energy supply system a legal military target.
Russia began its large-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago and has since regularly and systematically attacked the neighboring country’s energy supply systems.
The Russian military has been targeting thermal and hydroelectric power stations in Ukraine since March. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 80% of thermal power stations and about a third of hydroelectric power stations have been destroyed.
The human rights organization Amnesty International has criticized the attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as a war crime.
Ukraine says it last lost more than 9 gigawatts of power plant capacity across the country due to missile and drone attacks after Russia’s massive invasion in 2022.
The base load of Ukrainian energy generation is ensured by the three nuclear power plants that are still under government control.
Up to 1.7 gigawatts of additional power could be imported from neighboring EU countries and Moldova. However, for most Ukrainians, power outages lasting several hours are now a part of everyday life.
