Ukrainian officials say the country's residents could face serious heat outages this winter. Several cities in Ukraine have postponed the start of central heating systems for residential areas due to insufficient gas supplies.
The prolonged disruption to gas and electricity supplies to households could prompt more Ukrainians to expand their lives abroad, further weakening the already conflict-achachach national economy.
Worries about a harsh winter are growing in Ukraine. The main reason is the lack of attacks and systems of Russia on the country's energy infrastructure.
In recent months, Russia has apparently changed its strategy, shifting the focus from attacking the power grid to destroying gas infrastructure, including underground storage facilities and treatment plants.
These strikes have caused significant damage, reduced domestic gas production and forced Kiev to rely more on expensive import supplies. The state-owned energy company Naftogaz recently said the strikes had forced it to temporarily suspend operations at several major gas facilities.
In the face of the difficult situation, the Ukrainian government has had to decide to shorten this year's heating season to a month. Accordingly, the central heating system will only start operating from November 1 and end on March 31 of the following year, instead of starting from mid-October as usual.
However, many experts still warn about the risk of serious shortages. Mr. Serhiy Makogon, a former gas transit operator of Ukraine, estimated that the country will need to import at least 6.3 billion cubic meters of gas for the winter, significantly higher than the Ministry of Energy's forecast.
He warned that if Russian attacks continue to increase, Ukraine will have only two options: "In most imports, or limit consumers" - including industries and thermal power companies.
Ensuring enough energy to warm millions of people in the upcoming winter is becoming a huge challenge for the Ukrainian government, a survival war no less fierce than the military front.
