KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s prime minister warned Tuesday that the country could face its harshest winter since the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion, as airstrikes on the country’s beleaguered energy infrastructure intensify.
Russian attacks continue to severely hit Ukraine’s energy generation capacity, leaving the country heavily dependent on its three operating nuclear power plants and on electricity imports from European Union countries.
“Energy resilience is one of our biggest challenges this year,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a news conference in Kiev.
“We’ve basically made it through two and a half winters. We’ll make it through three, and this coming heating season is probably going to be just as tough, if not the toughest,” he said.
Shmyhal said the Ukrainian government, aided by European countries, was urgently developing initiatives to decentralize electricity generation to make it less vulnerable to attack. That includes expanding renewable energy capacity — a development welcomed by environmental groups.
GreenPeace has argued that a decentralized solar grid – which would be harder to damage by Russian missile and drone attacks – could quickly help restore domestic capacity, and is urging the government to make a bold expansion into green energy.
The group is calling for internationally supported investments worth nearly €4.5 billion ($4.9 billion) through 2030, with a focus on renewable projects, dominated by the solar energy sector.
“(Our) research says that the current goals that the Ukrainian government has set for solar energy by 2027 could be increased by at least five times. This is a very conservative assessment,” Natalia Gozak, head of Greenpeace Ukraine, told The Associated Press after the group opened an office in Kiev on Tuesday.
According to the United Nations and the World Bank, Ukraine lost more than half of its electricity generation capacity in the first 14 months of the war, with the situation continuing to deteriorate. Much of the country’s solar power generation was also lost as areas in the south of the country with more abundant sunlight came under Russian occupation.
According to both agencies, Ukraine’s energy mix before the war was dominated by traditional energy sources, with coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy accounting for almost 95% of the total.
Alexander Egit, Greenpeace director for Central and Eastern Europe, urged Western donor countries to support renewable energy projects during and after the war.
“We expect the European Union and beyond to invest billions of euros in the reconstruction of Ukraine,” he said. “Greenpeace’s role is to advocate for decentralized renewable energy to ensure that Ukraine is rebuilt as a modern, green and independent nation.” ___
