Ukraine’s cities have adapted to power outages. Europe should learn from this – Wadephul
Europe should study Ukraine’s experience in the energy sector, which has withstood Russian strikes.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said this during the international conference "Energy Security: Lessons from Ukraine", Censor.NET reports, citing Ukrinform.
What is known?
"Today, it is about listening to Ukrainian political and economic leaders, communities, civil society and experts, and learning from their experience, flexibility, perseverance and innovation. Because Ukraine has accumulated hard-won expertise that the European Union urgently needs to strengthen its own resilience and energy security," he said.
Wadephul stressed that Russia had turned energy infrastructure into one of its key tools of pressure in the war against Ukraine.
"Putin sees energy infrastructure as a target and a means of exerting psychological pressure. He seeks to break the morale of the civilian population, and yet Ukraine has been resisting every day for more than four years.
Entire cities have adapted to scheduled power cuts. Hospitals have installed backup systems powered by solar panels and batteries. Railway networks have adapted their operations to unstable electricity supplies," the minister explained.
Wadephul also noted the work of Ukrainian energy workers.
"Technicians worked under constant danger to repair damaged substations, often just hours after shelling. The hum of generators has become a constant background sound in Ukrainian cities. And energy workers have become defenders of the home front, keeping electricity supplies going, and far too many of them have paid for it with their lives," the German foreign minister said.
Europe
The minister noted that threats to energy security today concern not only Ukraine.
"Across Europe, we are already seeing a rise in hybrid attacks on critical infrastructure. We are seeing cyberattacks on utilities. We are seeing unidentified drones over energy facilities. And we are seeing damage to undersea cables, pipelines, and communications networks," he said.
According to Wadephul, critical infrastructure has now become "the front line of geopolitical confrontation", which means Europe needs a new understanding of energy security as a comprehensive security issue.
