Ukraine faces third winter of war with its power plants decimated and fear of a nuclear front

To get an idea of ​​what these figures mean, you have to understand that 1 gigawatt is the equivalent of 1,000 megawatts and that a state-of-the-art land-based windmill only generates about 6 or 7 megawatts. Put another way: in the last six months Russia has destroyed the equivalent of 1,500 onshore windmills.

“Ukraine needs 17 gigawatts of electrical capacity for this winter,” the president of the European Commission herself stressed a few weeks ago, Ursula von der Leyenafter announcing the sending of 100 million euros destined to repair this type of infrastructure.

Working against the clock

As reported by the country’s main electricity company, DTEKthe energy sources most affected by the Russian bombs have been thermal and hydroelectric. In addition, countless facilities whose job is none other than to connect these energy sources with the towns and cities of the country have also been affected.

All of which implies, according to the company’s estimates, that in the best of cases Ukrainian society You will go through the winter enjoying an average of 19 hours of electricity supply per day. Except that in the coming weeks the bombings will be even more targeted with the network, in which case there will be even less.

That is why the country’s electricity companies are repairing the main power stations affected by Russian ballistic missiles and drones against the clock and building, in parallel, cement walls and other types of coverage in order to protect them from future impacts. Likewise, the Ministry of Energy has begun to increase imports from Europe.

In parallel, the civilian population is trying to obtain electronic generators to be able to keep businesses open and the heating on – to be able to continue, in short, leading a normal life – in case of cuts, blackouts and other similar consequences.

El frente nuclear

Ahora mismo la mitad de la energía de Ucrania se produce en las tres centrales nucleares que siguen bajo su control: la de Pivdennoukrainsk, en el suroeste; la de Rivne, que se encuentra entre Leópolis y Kiev; y la de Khmelnytskyi, sita no muy lejos de la anterior.

De ahí que el Ministerio de Energía ucraniano tema que los rusos intenten interrumpir su trabajo atacando no las centrales nucleares directamente, pues eso sería demasiado arriesgado de cara a la comunidad internacional, sino las subestaciones que las rodean.

“Los rusos saben que dependemos de la energía nuclear”, explicó durante una conversación con los corresponsales de varios diarios europeos, incluido EL ESPAÑOL, Yuliia Kyian, directora general de Planificación Estratégica del citado ministerio. “Por eso han decidido atacar la infraestructura que rodea a las centrales”.

Unas palabras que secunda Oleksandr Lytvynenko, secretario del Consejo de Defensa y Seguridad, una organización dedicada a coordinar a las diferentes ramas del gobierno y del entramado militar a la hora de garantizar la seguridad del país. “Contamos con informes de inteligencia que indican que los rusos están planeando atacar nuestra infraestructura nuclear”, afirma Lytvynenko durante una conversación mantenida con EL ESPAÑOL. “No los reactores, sino las subestaciones”.

De ahí que el Gobierno de Ucrania se encuentre, según explicó Kyian, negociando con el Organismo Internacional de Energía Atómica (OIEA) el envío de equipos de voluntarios que, instalándose sobre esos terrenos, ayuden a proteger dichas subestaciones.