Ukraine’s Energy Ministry has accused the Financial Times of spreading falsehoods about the state of its power grid, insisting that such reporting plays into Russia’s hands.
On Wednesday, the British newspaper published an article with the headline: “Russia has taken out over half of Ukraine power generation,” which cited unnamed Ukrainian officials as saying domestic electricity production had dropped from 55 gigawatts to below 20 due to Russian advances on the battlefield and long-range strikes.
One of the FT’s sources described the fall-out from Russian attacks as “devastating,” warning that Ukraine should brace “for life in the cold and the dark.” The article also argued that this would mean recurring blackouts, and that by winter Ukrainians will spend large parts of their days without electricity.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry has vehemently contested the article, claiming on Facebook that it has all the hallmarks of “disinformation and military influence effort in the interests of Russia.”
The ministry argued that the FT relied on anonymous sources which “calls into question the reliability of the information provided,” while branding warnings of “life in the cold and the dark” as manipulation “aimed at spreading fear and panic.”
It also insisted that the paper has spread falsehoods by claiming that electricity tariffs for the population have doubled, when in fact they have only risen by 63%. However, the ministry did not directly refute the FT’s claim that Ukraine has lost half its power capacity. Last month, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba admitted that Russian strikes had damaged half of the country’s electricity generation.
Ukrainian officials have acknowledged the severe impact of Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, which has led to temporary blackouts at peak hours. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal said on Tuesday that Ukrainians would have to get used to conserving electricity, as it will take a long time to fully restore national energy infrastructure.
Russia began targeting Ukraine’s power stations in October 2022, following the bombing of the strategic Crimean Bridge, which Kiev later claimed responsibility for. Moscow’s recent series of strikes on Ukraine’s power infrastructure came in response to Kiev’s attacks on oil processing facilities inside Russia. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that its strikes on Ukraine are not aimed at civilians.