Up to 400,000 people may leave Ukraine before winter due to problems with electricity, – Bloomberg

Ukraine faces a significant challenge in increasing its energy capacity before winter, making it “unrealistic” to meet the necessary demand. As a result, around 400,000 people may leave the country due to problems with electricity supply.

This information was reported by Bloomberg.

“Achieving this additional capacity by the end of the year is almost impossible,” said Denis Sakva, an energy analyst at the investment bank Dragon Capital.

If Ukraine manages to decentralize its electricity production, Moscow may shift its airstrikes to target the gas distribution system to disrupt fuel supplies, as the mini-stations rely on gas. The frequency of Russian airstrikes on such infrastructure has already increased this year.

“We are definitely concerned. The Russians have started attacking our underground storage facilities in western Ukraine,” said Oleksiy Chernyshov, head of Naftogaz.

At present, due to the ongoing uncertainty caused by Russian attacks, it is difficult for Ukrainians to plan even for the short term, let alone for winter. The National Bank of Ukraine forecasts that another 400,000 people will leave the country this year due to power outages and infrastructure attacks.

Earlier, Ukraine’s energy minister warned that the upcoming winter would be more difficult than the previous one.

Additionally, as reported by the Financial Times, Ukraine has lost half of the energy capacity needed to get through the winter.