Kyiv only around 40% ready for winter, former director says

Kyiv is only around 40% ready for the upcoming heating season, with the most difficult situation potentially emerging on the left bank of the capital of Ukraine, Serhii Sukhomlyn, former head of the Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, has said.

He stated that Kyiv plans to create an additional 520 MW of heating capacity, Caliber.Az reports, citing Ukrainian media.

Some of the facilities are intended to provide backup heating for the Rusanivka and Berezniaky districts in the event of emergencies, but they are not expected to be commissioned until December, after the start of the heating season.

Meanwhile, the readiness of protection systems for Kyiv’s electricity substations is estimated at around 80%. The work is expected to be completed by the end of September. When resilience plans were being developed in February, Kyiv’s initial readiness stood at 1.5%, compared with 51% in Kharkiv and 24% in Chernihiv.

Sukhomlyn considers further strikes on energy and water infrastructure to be the main risk. In his view, instead of restoring large combined heat and power plants, Kyiv should develop a decentralised heating system based on small, protected boiler houses, including semi-underground facilities.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov