Factbox – The Russian attacks on Ukrainian power plants

By Pavel Polityuk

KIEV (Reuters) – Russia renewed its campaign of air strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities in March, which Kiev said knocked out half of its power generation capacity and forced Ukraine to impose rolling power outages in the capital and across the country.

Russia describes the energy infrastructure as a legitimate military target and denies launching attacks on civilians or civilian infrastructure. The attacks have raised concerns about the resilience of the country’s ailing power grid this winter.

According to estimates by the Kyiv School of Economics, Ukraine’s energy sector has suffered $16.1 billion in direct losses since the Russian invasion in February 2022, including $8.5 billion from the destruction of power generation facilities, $2.1 billion from disruptions to transmission facilities, and $3.3 billion from damage to oil and gas infrastructure.

For security reasons, Ukrainian authorities often do not disclose which facilities were hit and how severely.

Here’s a look at every attack this year.

MARCH 22

Russia attacked Ukraine with 88 missiles and 63 Shahed drones, of which, according to Kiev, only 37 and 55 were shot down. Officials described the wave of attacks as Russia’s largest airstrike on energy infrastructure in the two years of war.

The attack hit Ukraine’s largest dam, the DniproHES hydroelectric power station in the southern Zaporizhia region, eight times. At least five people were killed and more than a million people were left without electricity.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that around 20 substations and power plants were also affected.

The energy company DTEK said it had lost 50 percent of its electricity generation capacity in the attack. The 10-unit Zmiivska power plant in the northeast of Kharkiv region was destroyed.

24 MARCH

An underground natural gas storage facility in western Ukraine was attacked, the energy company Naftogaz said.

29 MARCH

A major Russian missile and drone attack hit thermal and hydroelectric power plants in central and western Ukraine. The Ukrainian military said its air force intercepted 58 of 60 drones and 26 of 39 missiles of various types in the attack. Five of the six DTEK power plants were seriously damaged, the company said. The Kaniv hydroelectric power plant was among the targets, along with the Dniester hydroelectric power plant.

10TH OF APRIL

A Russian missile and drone attack damaged energy facilities in the Black Sea region of Odessa and the nearby city of Mykolaiv and caused power outages. The Russian Air Force said 17 drones and three missiles were used in the attacks. Ukraine said 14 drones and two of the missiles were shot down.

11 APRIL

Russian attacks overnight completely destroyed the large Trypilska thermal power plant outside Kyiv, a key energy supplier for Kyiv, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions. The Trypilska plant was the largest energy facility near Kyiv and was built with a capacity of 1,800 megawatts. The air force commander said Ukraine shot down 18 incoming missiles and 39 drones. A total of 82 missiles and drones were used.

12. APRIL

Russian drone attacks caused a fire at an energy facility in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region and damaged key infrastructure in the southern Kherson region. Ukraine said it shot down 16 of 17 incoming drones. Russia also used a Kh-59 guided missile in the attack, Kyiv said.

27 APRIL

Russian missiles have struck power plants in central and western Ukraine, officials said. Ukrainian air defenses were able to shoot down 21 of the 34 attacking missiles. DTEK said four of its six thermal power plants were attacked again.

8th of May

Russia struck critical energy infrastructure in Stryi district, where Ukraine has a large underground gas storage facility, as well as a power plant in Chervonohrad district in western Ukraine. Air defenses shot down 39 of the 55 attacking missiles and 20 of 21 drones, Ukraine said.

31. May

A Russian missile attack destroyed a power plant and damaged the electricity grid in Kyiv, DTEK reported. Russia fired 53 missiles and 46 drones. Ukrainian air defense destroyed 35 missiles and all drones.

1 JUNE

Russia has launched a missile and drone attack that has damaged energy facilities and critical infrastructure across Ukraine. The attack damaged energy facilities in the east, center and west, grid operator Ukrenergo said. The Air Force said it shot down 35 of 53 Russian missiles and 46 of 47 combat drones in the attack. DTEK said two of its thermal power plants were hit and equipment was “severely damaged.”