Anti-Crisis Energy Headquarters meeting summoned

On 11 December, a meeting of the Anti-Crisis Energy Headquarters was held, convened by Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko.

The focus was on the heating season and increasing the resilience of the energy system amid constant russian attacks.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine – Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Oleksii Kuleba and Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development Kostiantyn Kovalchuk. The meeting also featured representatives of the Ministry of Energy, the Restoration Agency, NPC Ukrenergo, NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, NEURC, regional military administrations, and utility companies.

The construction of physical protection for critical infrastructure is ongoing. Regular meetings of the relevant Coordination Headquarters are held. Together with the RMAs (Regional Military Administrations) and the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, priority objects in the frontline regions that require additional protection have been identified. At this stage, there are more than 100 such facilities. In collaboration with the military, engineers and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, 16 standard engineering solutions have been developed, which can be adapted to different regions, taking into account the production capacities required during construction.

"russia continues to launch targeted strikes on energy infrastructure, trying to leave the population without electricity, heat and water supply. Our priority remains unchanged — to provide people throughout Ukraine with proper conditions during the winter.

We are building up reserves and working to expand cogeneration in communities, especially those near the front line. With the support of international partners, we are succeeding in implementing modular solutions there to reduce the dependence of life support systems on the centralised network," Oleksii Kuleba emphasised.

The heating season is underway across the country. Currently, 17,419 boiler rooms are in operation — more than 99% of those that were prepared for winter. Heat is supplied to 99% of residential buildings, which is more than 70,000 high-rise buildings in all regions of Ukraine.

An important priority remains the connection of distributed heat generation, in particular cogeneration plants and block-modular boiler rooms. Such heat sources make it possible to support communities even during heavy shelling.

International partners have already transferred about 700 units of such equipment to Ukraine. Most of them have been put into operation, while others are at the stage of either installation or connection.

At the initiative of the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, the Government recently adopted critical decisions aimed at removing unnecessary bureaucratic barriers to the development of distributed generation. In particular, procedures for installing cogeneration plants, modular boiler rooms, gas and diesel generators, and energy storage systems have been simplified. Previously, there were power restrictions that made it difficult to launch such facilities in hospitals, schools, or municipal enterprises. Now these barriers have been removed, and communities can install the necessary capacity much faster.

There are also 13,464 resilience centres operating in Ukraine, of which more than 9,235 are permanently operational, while the rest can be deployed within two hours in the event of an emergency. The greatest burden falls on the frontline regions, where resilience centres remain critical for providing basic services to people.