Deputy Prime Minister for Recovery Oleksiy Kuleba said that Russia has intensified its targeted attacks on Ukraine’s energy and transport infrastructure, particularly the railways, and warned of a difficult winter amid daily shelling.
Ukraine is entering winter under attack: every day there are attacks on power plants, substations, gas and water facilities, and recently on transport infrastructure, including railways. Kuleba stressed that over the past year, the State Agency for Infrastructure Restoration and Development has built more defences than in all previous years at 22 facilities under its responsibility. Work continues unabated despite limited budgets, tight deadlines and constant attacks. The details of the engineering solutions are not disclosed for security reasons, but Kuleba has released ‘safe’ photos with examples of facility protection.
According to Kuleba, the enemy is constantly improving its tactics: already, 15 Shahed drones with a combat load of 90 kg each are striking the same target every day. Russia’s goal is destabilisation, the search for an ‘internal enemy’ and chaos, so winter will be difficult and we must prepare for it.
The government has created a Coordination Headquarters for Energy Protection as a single control centre that will bring together all those responsible for energy, transport, water, heat and communications — from the Ministry of Energy, Ukrenergo, Naftogaz, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Emergency Service to regional military administrations, communities and infrastructure operators.
The Recovery Agency will ensure the headquarters’ operation. The decisions taken should speed up the construction of engineering protection around energy, transport and life support systems: quality and safety control will remain in place, but the procedural part — from approval to conclusion of contracts — will be shortened by months, allowing construction and repairs to begin quickly and damaged facilities to be restored faster.