Russia's Attacks on Ukrainian Power Grid Leave Civilians Struggling to Survive the Brutal Winter

KHARKIV — President Trump says he and Russia's President Putin have agreed to "work together very closely" on ending the Ukraine war. Until then, Russian forces continue attacking the country's power grid, causing rolling blackouts for millions of Ukrainians facing bitter winter temperatures.

While Russia has targeted the electrical grid since the start of the war, bombardments have focused in recent months on critical power infrastructure. The damage is evident at one of the country's largest thermal power plants, where seven cruise missiles destroyed massive generators. Now, workers are scrambling to salvage whatever they can.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), described the situation as very serious. "We have been visiting, in fact, nine stations that are critical for the functioning, the safe functioning of the nuclear power plants. And of course, the situation is quite dire. We should not, I think, hide the fact that, as you can see behind us, this infrastructure has been degraded," he said.

Nuclear power provides much of the electricity in Ukraine, and those plants rely on a functional grid to operate safely. Experts warn that damage to key substations could force reactors to shut down, leading to a full-blown energy crisis.

"You know, a nuclear accident can come with a direct attack on a nuclear power plant, but it can also be the result of a disruption in the power grid," Grossi continued. "And this substation is a critical part of that network that you have here in Ukraine. So, when a substation like this is affected or is prevented from operating in a normal way, then you can have a very serious situation."

CBN News visited one of the largest thermal power generation plants in the entire Kyiv region that was completely destroyed by a Russian missile strike last April. Some of the massive machines in the plant were totally destroyed, making repairs unlikely. The new strategy being adopted is to create a distributed power generation network across the country, which will make it much harder for Russia to knock it out.

Energy officials are hopeful this new strategy will help them weather future attacks.

Andriy Gota, Head of the Supervisory Board at Centrenergo Ukraine, said, "So, Russia, this spring, destroyed 100% of our generation facility. So, today, we invite all investors with some unique proposals. We want to get, and deploy in our facilities, dozens of small generators, from 10 to 25, 30 megawatts."

As Ukraine works to rebuild its infrastructure, the human cost of the war continues to rise. Almost 13 million Ukrainians—more than a third of the population—will need humanitarian aid this year. As negotiations pick up, boosted by the new Trump administration, power company employees are working to keep the lights on.

Gota continued, "We have very experienced personnel. We have all grids. We have natural gas. We have everything. So we want to invite investors to deploy these small generators in our power station. What we can provide, for investors to attract them… We will buy 100% of the electricity that they will produce in the generators."

At a recent UN meeting, the U.S. explained what is at stake.

Ting Wu, Deputy Political Counselor at the United States Mission to the United Nations, stated, "So long as Russia's forces occupy Ukraine and threaten Ukrainian families, Ukrainians will not have peace. For the sake of peace, we allowed Russia to hold 20% of Georgia. For the sake of peace, we allowed Russia to occupy Crimea. And now, for the sake of peace, some countries call on Ukraine to meet Russia halfway. We all want peace, but an outcome that rewards Putin for Russia's aggression is no peace at all. Appeasement will lead to more war."

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