Kyiv is facing its most severe energy and heating crisis since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, with conditions experts say have no precedent worldwide, according to the director of Ukraine’s Energy Research Center.
Oleksandr Kharchenko said the capital is confronting a dangerous combination of factors: a large centralized heating system, subzero temperatures and widespread destruction caused by Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.
“There has never been a more difficult energy situation in Kyiv,” Kharchenko said in an interview with Bihus media. He said attacks on energy facilities at temperatures of minus 15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) in a city dependent on centralized heating are unprecedented globally.
In recent weeks, Russian missile and drone attacks have pushed parts of Ukraine toward what officials describe as a looming humanitarian crisis by repeatedly targeting energy infrastructure. Early Tuesday, a massive Russian drone attack on Kryvyi Rih knocked out heat to more than 700 apartment buildings as temperatures fell to minus 7°C (19°F).
Kyiv itself narrowly avoided a critical breakdown after power outages temporarily left an estimated 60% to 70% of the city without heating.
Kharchenko said utility workers managed to avert a scenario that could have rendered the capital uninhabitable for an extended period, crediting Kyiv’s heating engineers with physically saving the capital through preparation and technical expertise.
He warned that if the centralized heating system had collapsed, residents would not have been able to live in apartment buildings even in above-freezing temperatures.
Late Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would introduce a state of emergency in the energy sector, citing the impact of recent Russian attacks on power and heating systems.
Zelensky outlined three priority measures to address what he described as the “severe” consequences of the strikes and worsening weather conditions.
Firstly, he said, a special headquarters will be established in Kyiv to coordinate a round-the-clock response to the energy crisis. Oversight will fall to Denys Shmyhal, who was narrowly approved Wednesday as energy minister and first deputy prime minister after parliament, the Verkohvna Rada, rejected his initial appointment a day earlier. His predecessor resigned after being implicated in a sweeping energy corruption scandal that shook Zelensky’s government late last year.
Secondly, the government will move to cut red tape and seek long-term solutions to the crisis.
“Government officials will maximally intensify work with partners to obtain the necessary equipment and additional support,” Zelensky said. “The Cabinet of Ministers will ensure maximum deregulation of all processes for connecting backup energy equipment to networks for the duration of such a situation.”
Ukraine is also seeking to increase electricity imports, he added.