Key facts
- DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko said Russia is now also targeting transmission lines, not only power plants.
- Ukraine's central and eastern regions, including Kyiv, are without electricity for up to 18 hours a day.
- DTEK workers have restarted its plants from scratch more than 70 times during the war.
- Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal forecast power capacity would reach 19.6 gigawatts by November 2026.
- DiXi Group said up to two-thirds of Ukrainian consumers could simultaneously have been experiencing blackouts.
- DTEK's five plants came under heavy attack 11 times last winter, the coldest of the war.
DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, is clearing rubble by hand at a power plant struck by Russian missiles early in November 2026, as it tries to restore generation before winter. Reuters visited the plant, whose location DTEK asked not to disclose for security reasons. Turbines and boilers were buried under tons of debris after the strike tore apart the plant's roof and walls.
Russia resumed large-scale attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in mid-autumn 2026. Since the heating season began in November, Russia has attacked three of DTEK's plants with dozens of missiles and drones, forcing them to halt electricity generation. Last winter, DTEK's five plants came under heavy attack 11 times. DTEK workers have restarted its plants from scratch more than 70 times during the war.
Ukraine has struggled to protect its plants after the US cut deliveries of Patriot interceptors, the only weapon in Kyiv's arsenal capable of stopping Russian ballistic missiles, amid a global shortage, Reuters reported. Russia's deployment of new jet-powered attack drones, which are harder to down because of their speed, has also stretched Ukraine's defenses. Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians.
DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko told Reuters that Russia was now also targeting transmission lines, preventing electricity from plants in western and southern Ukraine from reaching consumers in the center and east. Electrical substations linking Ukraine's nuclear plants to major cities have become particular targets, though both sides have avoided striking the nuclear stations themselves. Central and eastern regions, including Kyiv, are without electricity for up to 18 hours a day, while plants in western Ukraine are exporting significant volumes to Eastern Europe.