Russia hits the energy sector: will we be left without gas this winter?
28 August 2025 14:08
ANALYSIS
On the night of August 27, Russian strikes on the Poltava and Sumy regions reminded us again: the war continues, and our energy sector is one of the main targets. Administrative buildings, transportation and energy facilities were damaged. Hundreds of homes lost light and heat for several hours, but rescuers and power engineers worked promptly. Whether there is a plan to prepare for cold weather, whether the energy sector is ready for new challenges and where is the line between real threats and panic, which is already spreading through social networks – "Komersant Ukrainian" found out.
On the night of August 27, the Russian army carried out a massive attack on the Poltava region. According to the regional military administration, falling debris and direct hits were recorded in the Poltava region.
“Damaged administrative building, vehicles and equipment of the enterprise of the energy sector. There were fires on the territory of the facility, there was de-energization of household and legal consumers”,
– reported in the OSA.
Rescuers promptly localized the fires, power engineers restored power supply. According to official data, there were no casualties.
At the same time, the Russians also attacked Sumy region. At night kamikaze drones hit the neighborhoods of the Sumy community. According to the regional military administration, there is damage to infrastructure.
Acting Sumy city mayor Artem Kobzar confirmed the attack and specified that there were no hits to residential neighborhoods. However, due to damage to energy facilities, the city lost light. As reported in the CP “Electroavtotrans”, public transportation works only in the form of buses, because electric transport is temporarily stopped.
“Putin plans to destroy the energy system”: why in social networks again “zrada”
In recent days in the information space is spreading a wave of reports that already from mid-September Russia allegedly plans to “completely destroy the gas supply and energy system of Ukraine”. Some resources even present this as a fait accompli.
The reason for the “panic” were the words of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which were taken out of context and began to be actively disseminated. What did Zelensky actually say?
During a joint press conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in Kiev, the President of Ukraine said:
“Russia is trying to disrupt our preparations for winter, strikes at our energy infrastructure. This concerns not only electricity generation, heat generation, but also the production of our natural gas. So we very much appreciate the assistance that Norway is providing to Ukraine just for the purchase of gas. It directly helps to protect life.”
Zelensky recalled that last winter at least one million Ukrainian families had heat in their homes thanks to cooperation with Norway.
“This year’s challenges are also significant. There is already Norway’s decision to support our gas purchases. And we are very much counting on the next steps of Norway”,
– the president added.
That is, the speech was not about the “inevitable collapse”, but about the fact that Russia continues to purposefully hit the energy infrastructure, and Ukraine receives support from partners to minimize these risks.
Immediately after this speech, messages started appearing on social networks and on some pro-Russian platforms: “Everyone, be ready, the energy system will fall”, “there will be no gas”, “disaster is coming”.
Such messages are part of the Russian Federation’s information warfare aimed at sowing panic among Ukrainians.
Energy experts note: Ukraine has a plan to prepare for winter, well-tested response scenarios and real assistance from international partners. Last winter we passed the most difficult tests and proved that we are able to withstand.
Therefore, despite the threats from Russia, there is no scenario of “complete collapse”, which is being feared in social networks. There are challenges that we are preparing for.
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The energy sector under russia’s attacks: Kucherenko explains real threats and exaggerations
The fact that Russia is trying to disrupt our preparations for winter – this is not “scarecrows”, this is an objective picture. This opinion was expressed by MP of Ukraine, first deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy and Housing and Communal Services Oleksiy K ucherenko in an exclusive commentary for . He believes that the president’s words about the strikes on the energy sector were accurate and did not contain exaggerations.
“I have no complaints about him, he speaks correctly. He spoke about Russia attacking, trying to destroy and disrupt preparations”
Oleksiy Kucherenko
The people’s Deputy explained that the threats are real, but it is not necessary to stir up panic.
“Scare that we will be without gas at all? I would not say such a thing, but it falls on production, it falls on the increase in cost, it is a large expense, it is additional costs of imports, it is additional money. And in fact the threats are there. This is a war, we need to understand that.”
– oleksiy Kucherenko added
The nardeputy also drew attention to the fact that information is often distorted.
“And promoted that they will completely destroy. We have, unfortunately, a significant number of media and so-called experts inflate their ratings”
Thus, according to Kucherenko, there is a real threat, but one should not panic: it is important to understand the scale of the problem, to distinguish facts from exaggerations and to rely on the work of power engineers and the state.
What else scares Russians: new “Flamingo factories” and excuses for strikes
In social networks there were appeals to residents of the Kiev region not to ignore the air alarms. The reason is the mass dissemination of information by Russian propagandists about the alleged production of Ukrainian cruise missiles “Flamingo” in the region.
Propaganda Telegram channels of the aggressor state said that they allegedly “discovered” a factory of the company Fire Point, where they produce missiles of a new type. “Voenkorrs” spread photos of buildings, claiming that these are “workshops for the production of Flamingo.” Such information has already become the basis for “scaremongering” in the Russian infospace: they say that Ukrainian missiles will soon “threaten” the entire territory of the Russian Federation.
Aviation expert Konstantin Krivolap urged to calmly treat such statements. According to him, Russian “revelations” are based on speculation and have no confirmation.
“Russians do not know where and how Flamingo is created. The fact that they show some ceilings or workshops – I can find you hundreds of such photos. It looks like another attempt to create a picture for a domestic audience. In fact, their problem is that they do not understand how and where the development takes place,” Konstantin Krivolap explained,
– explained Konstantin Krivolap.
Krivolap also recalled that in the days of Neptune, the Russians knew the location of most of the factories where they could work on missile programs, because even before the war their engineers had been there. Now the situation is different:
“The success of the Flamingo is precisely because the Russians don’t know about it. It’s still a small series, there may be various failed tests – and this is absolutely normal for a new weapon”
Konstantin Krivolap
Ukraine has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to create high-precision weapon systems even in times of war. The very fact of the appearance of the Flamingo missile has caused hysteria in Russia, because it confirms the development of the domestic military-industrial complex despite constant shelling.
At the same time, experts urge Ukrainians not to neglect the air alert signals, because the spread of Russian “scaremongering” may be accompanied by real attempts to strike Kiev’s facilities.
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