In July and August, Ukraine may implement temporary power outages lasting up to five hours a day if hot weather persists for an extended period and Russia resumes massive attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure. Vitaliy Zaychenko, head of the National Energy Company Ukrenergo, reported this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine , as reported by Dengi.ua .
According to him, the situation remains critical during the evening peak consumption hours. With high temperatures and damage to power facilities, restrictions could last up to five hours a day.
“We understand that we will cover daytime demand through nuclear generation, imports, distributed generation, and renewable energy, but unfortunately, we will have to balance evening peaks at the expense of our consumers,” Zaychenko noted.
At the same time, the head of Ukrenergo emphasized that, barring new large-scale attacks, the power grid has a good chance of getting through the summer without significant restrictions for the public and businesses.
He also noted that in 2026, Ukraine is significantly better prepared for potential attacks on its energy infrastructure than it was a year ago. Recently, distributed generation capacity has increased, the construction of new power plants with enhanced protection has progressed, and the security level of substations - both those of Ukrenergo and distribution system operators - has been improved.
“This summer, the situation is much easier than in the summer of 2025 because there is more distributed generation, new power plants are being built with a second level of protection, and the security of substations - both those of Ukrenergo and distribution system operators (oblenergos - d.) -has been enhanced, so blackouts are certainly possible, but they won’t be as severe as in winter,” Zaychenko said.