MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. More than 80% of Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been damaged, the country's Prime Minister Denis Shmygal has said.
"More than 80% of our power infrastructure has been damaged as of today," he said in a video posted on the Ukrainian president's office's YouTube channel.
On June 11, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that about 80% of thermal power generation and a third of hydro generation in the country had been destroyed. According to him, Ukraine has recently lost 9 GW of capacity. Before that, Shmygal said that 62 power units at Ukrainian hydroelectric and thermal power plants had been destroyed, including 20 hydropower units that used to generate 1.3 GW of electricity.
In early May, the country began to impose restrictions on industrial facilities due to power shortages and urged citizens not to turn on energy-intensive appliances during peak hours. However, these measures were not enough: soon, regular blackout schedules were introduced for household consumers across the country. Since early June, Ukraine has been forced to significantly increase electricity supplies from abroad; in the first days of this month, imports exceeded May's figures by a third.