Western countries must send more advanced air defense systems to Ukraine to reduce the risk of Russian missile strikes hitting a nuclear power plant, the country’s energy minister said, after Ukraine endured a ninth “massive” wave of missile strikes against its energy infrastructure.
Speaking to POLITICO from his office in Kyiv following Russia’s latest bombardment, German Galushchenko said that Ukraine expected no let-up in President Vladimir Putin’s assault on the country’s energy supply and warned that a nuclear facility could easily be hit either deliberately or accidentally in future attacks.
Friday’s bombardment damaged at least eight heating or electricity generating facilities, as well as electricity substations throughout the country, affecting power supply for millions of Ukrainians, he added.
“You can expect anything from [Russia], after what they are doing,” Galushchenko said.
Citing an attack in September, when a missile landed close to the South Ukraine nuclear power plant, he added: “When they try to target a [non-nuclear] generation facility or substation, these missiles are flying all around Ukraine. We have videos of missiles flying near to a nuclear unit. We had one accident [near] South Ukraine … It looks like an accidental fall of missiles, but this fall was around 100 meters from the nuclear unit.”
Galushchenko said that it was vital the country receive more air defenses going into winter to reduce the risk of a nuclear accident and to maintain electricity and heating supplies for millions of Ukrainians. “That is critical,” he said. “We need more modern systems … Countries should do everything and not wait.”
The U.S. is reportedly planning to send advanced Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, a development that Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday would lead to unspecified “consequences.”
Russia fired more than 70 missiles at Ukraine in Friday’s bombardment, Galushchenko said, making it the ninth such “massive attack” — those comprising between 70 and 100 missiles — since Russia began targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on October 10.
But since that date, there have been smaller-scale attacks on critical infrastructure on a daily basis, Galuschenko said, with attacks now combining missiles, Iranian-made drones and artillery.
“That is an experience that no country in the world has faced before. [There is] nobody you can call for advice about what to do in this situation,” Galushchenko said, adding that engineers were sometimes repairing key infrastructure only for it to be attacked again days later. “We repair, they hit again, like running in a circle,” he said.
“We are grateful to countries that have supplied all kinds of energy equipment to us to help us repair quickly. But if countries can supply [new] air protection systems that will help much more. In that situation they won’t be able to hit our generation facilities in the first place.”
Galushchenko called on allies to send Ukraine more supplies of replacement electricity transformers, which transfer high-voltage electricity sent out by power plants into lower-voltage electricity used on local power grids. He also said that EU countries should extend their sanctions on Russian energy, including through a price cap on imported Russian gas, and sanctions on the Russian atomic sector, including nuclear fuel.
Asked whether Ukrainian cities already used to planned blackouts for hours each day could face more prolonged blackouts this winter, Galuschenko said it would depend on the extent of Russian attacks and the weather, but added that the government was prepared for “worst scenarios,” with locations designated in cities for people to go for warmth, water and to charge their phones.
“I hope that we would maintain the system but that could be useful temporarily whenever we need more time to prepare,” Galuschenko said.
“[Russia] cannot win on the battlefield so now they start this terror against civilians,” he added. “We call it the ‘energy front.’ It only adds to the unity and more of a wish to win this war.”
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