Russia aims to blackout Ukraine — expert on nuclear energy

Independent expert on nuclear energy and safety Olha Kosharna stated this on Espreso TV.

"Right now, Russia's objective is to create a blackout. Due to damage to thermal and hydroelectric power plants, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that the country currently has only 11 GW of generation capacity against a need of 18 GW. Of these 11 GW, 7.6 GW comes from Ukraine's three nuclear power plants, meaning 69% of all available generation. If even one nuclear power plant unit shuts down, it would mean a loss of 1,000 MW, and right now every megawatt is extremely valuable," Kosharna emphasized.

According to the expert, the Russians will not target the open switchyards located near the industrial sites of nuclear power plants, but will instead try to strike Ukrenergo substations. There have already been multiple attacks on such substations, and as a result, the nuclear power plants were unable to output their full capacity and operated in reduced mode.

"Transformer substations are protected by concrete structures, but there are also wires, switches, and other equipment. And the Russian tactic is to strike with cluster munitions, so it's clear that time is needed to restore these wires and other elements. The concrete structures providing second-level protection are effective against Shaheds. There have even been cases where these structures withstood attacks from cruise missiles, but they cannot withstand ballistic missiles because they weren't designed for such strikes," Kosharna added.

• In Kyiv, large-scale power outages are expected over the next two days: residents may be without electricity for 16–20 hours per day, while stable power supply will be available for only 4–6 hours.