"There's no escape from ballistics. The scale of destruction has increased exponentially" – Ukrainian energy industry bosses
The physical protection of Ukrainian energy facilities can only protect equipment from shrapnel and even drone strikes, but they remain vulnerable to missiles.
This was discussed by participants at a conference in Kyiv dedicated to the new heating season, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
"Unfortunately, strikes are occurring across the entire infrastructure—production, distribution, and storage. The intensity and scale have increased exponentially. That's why there are missiles and Shahed missiles that, unfortunately, reach their targets. However, air forces are shooting down many targets.
"There's also a benefit from the built-in Level 1, or '1 Plus', physical protection, which helps protect equipment from shrapnel and direct hits. Unfortunately, protecting equipment from ballistics is difficult, and in some cases, impossible. Therefore, yes, there is damage," complained Naftogaz Chairman of the Board Serhiy Koretskyi.
The head of the board of Ukrenergo, Vitaliy Zaychenko, spoke a little more optimistically.
"As for Ukrenergo, to ensure the security of the power grid and to get through this winter, we've done a lot to protect facilities, primarily autotransformers. Levels 1 and 2 of protection have been developed. And the autotransformers currently at level 2 protection are sufficient to transmit the volumes of electricity that will be consumed in the regions," the company's director boasted.
However, journalists asked for clarification on the effectiveness of the “3rd level” of protection for energy facilities, the construction of which was announced with great fanfare two years ago.
"The third level of protection hasn't been implemented at any facility. At one facility, we implemented Level 2 Plus, where we buried all the substation control and protection systems underground. This is very vulnerable equipment that takes a long time to restore, and we've begun scaling this up across our other substations," Zaychenko asserted.
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