Russian War Against Ukraine: Energy Dimension (daily updating DiXi Group alert) 

March 9

Summary

— On the night of March 9, Russia carried out another massive air attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, firing 81 missiles of different kinds and 8 attack UAVs. The defense forces destroyed 34 cruise missiles and 4 drones, another 8 missiles failed to reach targets due to organized countermeasures.

— The Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko reported shelling of energy facilities in the Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr regions. Impact of infrastructure facilities was also reported in the Kirovohrad, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Vinnytsia regions, and the city of Kyiv.

— DTEK reported shelling on three TPPs, with equipment severely damaged. In Kyiv, 40% of consumers were also left without district heating, and in Kharkiv and Zhytomyr, critical infrastructure facilities have switched to generators.

— There is damage to both thermal power plants and Ukrenergo substations, as well as main grids – so the CEO of Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi. Restrictions will be applied in the Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, and Odesa regions.

— The last communication line between the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP and the Ukrainian power system was disconnected due to the missile attacks. According to Energoatom, the plant was disconnected and in a blackout mode, with units 5 and 6 being put into cold shutdown, and 18 diesel generators switched on to supply own needs. The fuel reserves for their operation will be enough for 10 days.

— At a meeting with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that the ZNPP should return under Ukrainian control and that this is a matter of global security.

— Ukraine still needs additional supplies of equipment – so the Deputy Minister of Energy Yaroslav Demchenkov. “We have a particularly high need for high-voltage equipment, including transformers, gas-fired distributed generation, and other power equipment”. Ukraine needs to restore stationary power supply schemes for all regions, including broken substations and power plants, said the CEO of Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi.

— The Ukraine Energy Support Fund, established in April 2022, received 151 million EUR in donations. About 138 million EUR has been allocated for the needs of affected companies.

— The Security Service, together with the Economic Security Bureau, discovered a scheme to misappropriate industrial volumes of gas.

— The Regulator indicates a positive trend in DSOs’ compliance with the requirements on schedules of power outages and proper informing about interruptions in electricity supply. Most licensees of the NEURC publish schedules which are correct and understandable for consumers, indicating the start and end of outages.