Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said Kyiv is receiving cogeneration plants from domestic sources and abroad as the heating crisis deepens.
On Tuesday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said some 600,000 residents had fled the capital as it edges toward what he called a “humanitarian catastrophe,” after Russia once again pummeled Ukraine’s energy grid early that morning, knocking out heating and power in subzero temperatures
Oleksiy Kuleba, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for restoration and minister for communities and territories development, said cogeneration units – which produce both heating and electricity – are being transferred from other regions to Kyiv.
“Kryvyi Rih transfers two cogeneration plants with a total capacity of 2 [megawatts] MW; Kherson: three block-modular boiler houses adding over 2 MW; Zaporizhzhia – two cogeneration plants of 2.5 MW each,” Kuleba wrote.
Three plants with a combined output of 3.8 MW will also reach Kyiv this week from Germany, Kuleba said.
“This week, two cogeneration plants with a capacity of 1.5 MW and 2.3 MW will arrive in Kyiv from our permanent partner GIZ,” he wrote. “Grateful to Germany for supporting Ukraine in the most difficult times.”
He said the new equipment will help provide heating to schools and homes.
“This equipment will primarily be used for schools and central heating points that provide heat to residential buildings,” he added.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday’s strike left more than a million people in the capital without power, while residents told Kyiv Post the resulting blackouts also cut water supplies, leaving them unable even to flush toilets.
For context, 1,000 MW equals one gigawatt (GW), and Ukraine’s functional pre-war generating capacity stood at around 36 GW (36,000 MW). Newly-appointed Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said not a single power plant was spared in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion.