![\"Kyiv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/c1_6302191.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPower company chief says Moscow trying to create a \u2018humanitarian diasster\u2019<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKyiv residents fill water bottles during a partial power outage on Nov 5, 2026. (Photo: AFP)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
KYIV – Russian attacks on Ukraine\u2019s energy grid this winter could do \u201cmuch more significant\u201d damage to the country than in previous years, the head of Ukraine\u2019s largest power company has warned.<\/p>\n
Moscow has been bombarding power stations across the country in waves of ballistic and cruise missile attacks, cutting power and heating to millions of people as temperatures plunge.<\/p>\n
Fears are high across the country that this winter could be tougher than ever before, with Russia seeking to trigger a humanitarian disaster that would leave Ukrainians questioning whether fighting on is worth the costs.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s stretched air defences are struggling to cope with the barrages, Maxim Timchenko, chief executive of the power company DTEK, said in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe difference from the last year is that the scale of these attacks is much, much, much bigger,\u201d Timchenko said.<\/p>\n
He said Russian forces were now firing \u201csix, seven ballistic missiles, 25 cruise missiles and dozens of drones\u201d at a single power station.<\/p>\n
Russia is using twice as many ballistic missiles \u2014 fast-moving and almost impossible for Ukraine\u2019s domestic air defences to intercept \u2014 as in previous years, Timchenko added.<\/p>\n
Kyiv instead relies on advanced interceptors like the US-made Patriot systems. But they are in short supply and President Volodymyr Zelensky has been urging allies to step up their deliveries.<\/p>\n
Russia is also targeting transmission lines and substations, Timchenko said, so that even when plants are operational, households and businesses are still cut off.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately they\u2019re successful in these attacks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As for the power stations themselves, many of those that have been hit by Russia in recent weeks will be offline until at least next summer, and some \u201cwill take even more time\u201d, Timchenko added.<\/p>\n
And if the ballistic missile attacks continue, the damage will be \u201cmuch more significant than last year\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
Timchenko said Russia was trying to force a \u201chumanitarian disaster\u201d, with the capital Kyiv an \u201cobvious and primary target\u201d.<\/p>\n
Last winter, one in every two apartment blocks in the capital was cut off from heating in temperatures as low as -20C.<\/p>\n
Millions were without electricity, while others were limited to just a few hours a day.<\/p>\n
Locals who could afford it bought up generators or installed solar panels on their roofs.<\/p>\n
Others slept in tents and sleeping bags in their living rooms as indoor temperatures dropped, and water pipes would freeze and burst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Power company chief says Moscow trying to create a \u2018humanitarian diasster\u2019 Kyiv residents fill water bottles during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[26048,7241,41078,41077,169,2452,24,5653,2445,11720,2232],"class_list":["post-81799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ukraine-russia","tag-dtek","tag-humanitarian-crisis","tag-kyiv-power-supply","tag-maxim-timchenko","tag-missile-attacks","tag-russia-missile-attacks","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-energy-infrastructure","tag-ukraine-missile-attacks","tag-ukraine-power-grid","tag-volodymyr-zelensky"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@conflicts\/117610017752416185","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}