Massive attack on August 26
Ukraine’s government seeks to shield its energy system from Russian strikes, which have seriously weakened the grid after two and a half years of war. The focus is on protecting the substations that draw power from nuclear facilities. Russia does not strike the nuclear plants directly, but targets the surrounding substations, threatening the global energy security chain. A misdirected missile could trigger an accident that reverberates well beyond Ukraine’s borders.
They propose that international volunteers could act as human barriers at substations, according to government sources. The argument is that the risk comes not only from the direct destruction of a reactor but from accidents caused by prolonged outages linked to attacks on the infrastructure around the plants.
Yuliia Kyian, director-general of Strategic Planning at the Ministry of Energy, said that the absolute priority is to protect these critical systems and that negotiations are underway for missions from the International Atomic Energy Agency to help safeguard these facilities. She explained that Russia knows Ukraine relies on nuclear energy as a main source, but cannot attack the plants directly, so it targets the surrounding infrastructure instead.
Ukraine gets about half of its energy from three nuclear plants still under Ukrainian control in non-occupied territory: Rivne and Khmelnytskyi in the east, and Pivdennoukrainsk in the south.
To date, the Russian military has not attacked the nuclear plants outright. However, clashes around Zaporizhzhia have kept the world tense at the start of the large-scale invasion that was ordered by President Vladimir Putin.
Zaporizhzhia stands as Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and is presently under Russian control. The IAEA already maintains a monitoring mission at the facility.
Massive attack on August 26
Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine’s energy production sites in recent months. Analysts say energy facilities are the top target for Moscow. The conflict is a grinding war of attrition: without power, industry stalls and morale dips, which in turn affects armament production and civilian resilience.
On August 26, a massive strike targeted electrical infrastructure across the country. A barrage of 236 missiles and drones left seven million people without electricity, according to Ukrainian authorities. Since the war began, the Ukrainian power system has endured over a thousand attacks on hundreds of substations and distribution lines.
The only real protection for these facilities is air defense, but resources remain insufficient for thousands of critical sites. Physical barriers, like cement walls, help against drones and some missiles but cannot fully shield every installation.
Officials warn that this third winter could prove the harshest yet. At the start of the conflict Ukraine generated around 45 gigawatts of power; today the figure is closer to 20 gigawatts. In the previous spring, about 9 gigawatts were lost. International assistance is urgently needed in the form of affordable energy imports, generators, repair materials, and financial support, along with stronger sanctions and sustained pressure on Russia to halt what Kyiv and its partners view as a war crime.