Austria prepares for a possible blackout as a result of the war in Ukraine

Latest news about the war between Russia and Ukraine

Dec. 28 () –

The Austrian Defense Minister, Klaudia Tanner, stated on Tuesday that the Austrian government is preparing “intensively” for a possible blackout as a result of the war in Ukraine, which began on February 24 by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin. .

For the Minister of Defense, the probability of a blackout in some parts of the European Union in the near future is very high. “The question is not if it will come, it is when it will come”, she has remarked in an interview with the newspaper ‘Welt’.

In this sense, he has assured that the risk of a general blackout has increased significantly as a result of the war.

“For Putin, hacker attacks on Western power supplies are a means of hybrid warfare. We must not pretend that this is just theory. We have to prepare for blackouts in Austria and in Europe,” he said.

Thus, he has ensured that “a third of the population could no longer fend for themselves on the fourth day of a blackout at the latest.” For this reason, he has reported that his Executive is practicing “regularly blackout crisis operations.”

“By 2025 we will invest a total of 180 million euros in expanding 100 so-called self-sufficient barracks, which will have an energy supply and will be able to fend for themselves for at least two weeks,” Tanner explained.

TANNER URGES WEST TO START PEACE

The minister has indicated that she is not sure “if there will ever be a winner” in the war in Ukraine, alleging that the Russian troops have “huge reserves of materiel and soldiers”.

“Fortunately, Ukraine has made very important achievements, but it has a huge territory to defend,” he said, urging the international community to participate in the peace negotiations.

Tanner has asserted that “it is important that there are conversations in the background and that attention is increasingly focused on Diplomacy.” “It can also be seen that the West, which has been supporting Ukraine for months with military and financial aid, must work with kyiv to find out when the limit of this war will be reached and when it makes sense to start negotiations in a proper format,” he criticized. .