Russia has shifted its strategy in attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure, now focusing on regional targets rather than attempting to destabilize the entire system, Deputy Energy Minister Mykola Kolisnyk said 20 October at the "Energy that Holds Ukraine" forum.
"If earlier the enemy tried to disconnect the system, to unbalance it, then today it concentrates on attacks based on regional principle," Kolisnyk said.
The new approach extends beyond electricity to natural gas distribution. Russia has begun striking facilities that supply specific communities, though the deputy minister declined to name them.
"The enemy started attacking certain objects, I won't name them, on which the distribution of natural gas to a specific settlement depends. They are not strategic, there are bypasses for them, but the enemy is still testing this situation, trying to reduce the capacity of gas transportation to a specific key heating facility or others," Kolisnyk said.
Russia now deploys large numbers of aerial weapons in coordinated waves to overwhelm air defenses, according to the deputy minister. "A whole swarm of UAVs plus various types of missiles go to one specific object. This exhausts air defense, even if the object is designated as a priority. And as a result, we have attacks that damage the energy system," he said.
The shift in tactics aims to gradually render the system unfit for operation rather than destroy it outright, according to Vitaliy Zaychenko, CEO of state grid operator Ukrenergo, who previously described Russia's changed approach to strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
