Ukraine needs at least 20 additional air-defense systems from the West to protect its power infrastructure from attacks and avoid blackouts, Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga has said ahead of a meeting with his NATO counterparts, Ukrainian media reported on Tuesday.
The Russian Defense Ministry has been targeting parts of the Ukrainian energy system, which it considers to be a legitimate target. The strikes were intended to undermine Kiev’s domestic arms production and the movement of weapons and troops to the front line, it has explained.
“We are talking about an emergency delivery of at least 20 additional Hawk, NASAMS or IRIS-T systems,” the minister said at the military bloc’s HQ in Brussels, as quoted by RBK Ukraine. “This will help us avoid blackouts. We understand that the Russians are trying to undercut our generation capacity.”
Ukrainian forces have been launching their own attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, including oil refineries, gas pipelines and nuclear power plants, according to Ukrainian and Russian officials. A campaign of long-range kamikaze drone strikes inside Russia, which Kiev escalated in January, prompted wider Russian retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian sites. According to Kiev, the country has lost some 80% of its non-nuclear energy capacity as a result.
Kiev and its Western backers have been citing the damage to justify the escalation of hostilities. Last month, US President Joe Biden granted Ukraine’s longstanding wish by authorizing strikes using Western-donated missiles deep inside Russia. The attacks are meant to undermine Moscow’s ability to launch missile barrages and drones into Ukraine.
In addition to Western weapons, Ukraine has also pleaded for civilian assistance in rebuilding its power grid and making it more robust. These efforts were undermined by corruption in the country, the Sunday Times newspaper reported last month. Ukrainian government officials allegedly demanded bribes from contractors hired to build bunkers for substations.