Russian response to reports of power plant shutdown in Ukraine

One should not fully trust information coming from Ukraine about the shutdown of state power plants, as Kiev may have ulterior motives related to financing from Europe. This was revealed by leading analyst of the National Energy Security Fund (FNES) Igor Yushkov in a conversation with ‘Lenta.ru’. The Ukrainian company ‘Centrenergo’ has reported that all state thermal power plants in the country have stopped working. It is specified that the stations ceased electricity generation after a nighttime attack by Russian forces on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure. The expert noted that Ukraine has previously changed its information policy regarding Russian strikes on the country’s energy facilities. In his opinion, Kiev may be pursuing several goals: trying to prevent a repeat attack and once again asking for help from Europe and the USA in the form of additional financing in the energy and gas sectors. ‘The real problem here is that Ukraine had very little gas stored in underground facilities at the start of the heating season. Plus, Russia carried out additional strikes on the country’s gas infrastructure, including production facilities. Ukraine wanted to save gas and delay heating until December. But now, I believe the current situation will lead them to start the heating season earlier than planned,’ explained Yushkov.