Kyiv least prepared for winter among major Ukrainian cities — energy expert

Energy expert Stanislav Ignatyev of the Ukrainian Institute of the Future stated that Kyiv is the worst prepared among major cities for the upcoming heating season.

He made the remarks in an interview with the publication Kommersant Ukrainsky.

According to Ignatyev’s assessment, Ukraine’s energy system as a whole is ready for a new season of massive attacks at 8 out of 10 on a ten-point scale. He gave a positive evaluation to Ukrenergo, noting that the company “handled the task set by the enemy quite well.” Power outages will still occur this winter, but, according to Ignatyev, they will be “not much worse than last year.”

The situation with heat supply, he said, is fundamentally different from that of electricity transmission: each city handles the issue independently. The expert assessed most cities and regional centers as prepared for a harsh winter. Against this backdrop, Kyiv found itself among the laggards.

“Kyiv is not ready,” Ignatyev stated, adding that one can soon expect an announcement from the capital’s mayor calling on residents to leave the city.

A separate problem is the situation with Kyiv’s combined heat and power plants. According to the expert, a restoration option has been found for CHP-4, but this is “a story of at least four years of work,” and 1,100 apartment buildings will be freezing this winter as well. Ignatyev also recounted that when the owner of CHP-4 attempted to restart the plant and black smoke appeared from the chimney, the facility was immediately attacked. CHP-5 and CHP-6, according to his data, are undergoing emergency repairs.

The expert did not rule out that heating bills this winter could increase eightfold. Among the reasons he cited the market price of gas and the absence of state budget funding to cover the gap between the tariff and the cost price.

“If we let the market go and, possibly, our European donors — the funds that provide us with money on credit — want to recover it more actively, this will lead to a situation where we will be forced to raise the cost of heat supply and electricity for the population,” Ignatyev explained.

He did add the caveat that this is a matter of political decision-making, and expressed doubt that anyone would take such drastic steps.

As UNIAN reported, Taras Chmut, head of the Come Back Alive foundation, had warned that the winter of 2026–2027 could be the hardest for Ukrainians — in part due to the inability to counter Russian ballistic missiles and the reactive drones being stockpiled by the enemy, which are difficult to shoot down. According to him, everyone should already now, in July, think about where they will be in winter, and some should consider leaving the city for a village, a district center, or abroad.