Ukraine failed to fully prepare for winter - REUTERS

For the second winter in a row, Ukrainians are expecting long blackouts. The reason for this is numerous Russian missile attacks, which have destroyed the energy system. About it writes Reuters.

As the agency notes, hundreds of engineers worked during the summer months to restore destroyed or partially damaged equipment of power plants, and Ukrainian troops installed better air defence, but it was not enough to complete preparations for winter.

And this means new long nights without light, heat and water for millions of Ukrainians," the agency points out.

Assessing the readiness of the Ukrainian energy sector for winter and attacks, Markus Lippold, head of the energy group in the European Union's enlargement department, said that work to restore destroyed equipment should continue.

At the same time, Reuters points out that it is difficult to talk about figures that would characterise the scale of the damage, as Ukraine refuses to share detailed data on the impact of Russian attacks on its energy system, treating it as confidential information in times of war.

But in June, the United Nations estimated that Ukraine's electricity generating capacity had been cut by about half from the level before Russia's full-scale invasion. Of the nearly 37 gigawatts (GW), more than 19 GW had been destroyed or damaged," the agency pointed out.

The authors of the material calculated that during the last heating season, which lasts from October to March, the average Ukrainian living far from the front line spent about 35 days without light, those who were closer to the line of fire - without electricity remained often.

Last winter Ukraine was helped by relatively mild weather, quick repairs and imports, but this time some officials expect harsher conditions," Reuters noted.

In an interview with the agency, Dmytro Sakharuk, executive director of Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, pointed out that the company had carried out extensive repairs to the energy system, but agreed that it was still a long way from completion, meaning that the winter would be more difficult than the previous one.

Certainly, we can say that the level of reliability will be lower than last year," he said.

At the same time, he pointed out that this year the energy sector will be more prepared for possible attacks and has taken additional protection measures for strategic facilities.