Guest
On October 18, President of Ukraine Zelensky confirmed that Russian high-precision strikes have already destroyed about 30% of power stations in the country. The destruction led to major power outages across Ukraine. Today, dozens more of Ukrainian military, industrial and energy infrastructure facilities were hit by Russian UAVs and missiles, including in the capital Kiev, Kharkov, Dnipro, Zaporozhie, Zhitomir and other cities. Hundreds of settlements throughout the country remain cut off electricity supplies. The water supply has stopped in many cities, including in some districts in the capital. A number of industrial enterprises which provided for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been put out of action. Ukraine is already experiencing a shortage of spare parts for the repair of energy and industrial infrastructure facilities. These facilities were mostly built in the Soviet Union and the spare parts and consumables necessary for their operation are produced in Russia. Ukraine is already forced to send a significant part of military equipment for repair to the EU border countries, incurring significant logistical costs. If the intensity and effectiveness of Russian strikes remain at the current level for at least the next two weeks, the collapse of Ukraine’s energy and industry is inevitable. Meanwhile, the European Union took a step back and refused to impose restrictions on gas prices amid political differences and concerns about security of supply. Western countries continue to discuss various measures to limit Russia’s income from energy exports. However, the imposing of restrictions has not yet found consensus among all members of the union. For example, Hungary claimed that it would not support initiatives that would jeopardize the security of its energy supplies. President Vladimir Putin has previously warned that Russia will not supply anything abroad if it contradicts its interests. The head of Gazprom claimed that a unilateral price restriction by the EU would be a violation of the essential terms of the contract, and entail the cessation of supplies.
