Ukraine in talks with IAEA to have monitoring mission expanded to power substations

That’s according to the Deputy Minister of Energy, Mykola Kolisnyk, who spoke on the air of the national telethon, Ukrinform reports.

"Actually, we are focused on restoring as much as possible the operation of those energy facilities wherever it is possible to carry out repairs. To this end, we are currently actively interacting with international partners — in order to obtain all the necessary equipment, and for the entire repair campaign to meet the required and established schedules," Kolisnyk informed.

The deputy minister noted that, among other things, international aid remains focused on the construction of new generating capacities, distributed generation for each settlement, including cogeneration plants and mobile plants to provide heat and electricity, as part of comprehensive preparations for winter.

Separately, the official noted that this year alone, due to Russian attacks, Ukraine lost up to 9 gigawatts of generating capacity, which traditionally helps maintain stability in the power grid during peak loads.

Answering a question of the threat of possible Russian strikes targeting Ukraine’s nuclear energy facilities, Kolisnyk said the relevant information obtained by intelligence agencies had already been forwarded to international partners and the IAEA.

"The Ministry of Energy, in accordance with the mandate received from the President's Office, cooperates as much as possible with the IAEA so that international partners and agencies expand their monitoring mission to other energy objects, including key substations. The first results are already there. Work in this regard is being conducted quite actively," said the deputy minister.

According to the Ministry of Energy, attacks on key substations pose a direct threat to the energy security and radiation safety of the entire region.

"Accordingly, in order to avoid such an incident, we call on all international partners as much as possible to thwart enemy plans," he said.

As reported earlier, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, briefed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Russia’s preparations for strikes on critical nuclear energy facilities in Ukraine ahead of winter.