Ukrainian companies are adapting to daily blackouts from attacks on Russia’s power grid

Gyrin heads Adonis, a network of medical centers with 500 doctors and 1,200 other employees across Ukraine. These days, “our clinics typically don’t have power for at least half of the workday,” he said. “Power outages and rocket attacks…are our biggest concerns. You can’t plan for more than a few days,” he noted.

Russian shelling destroyed one of Adonis’ maternity wards in March. In other cases, power outages have disrupted dental work, X-rays, and even major surgeries.

The Russian invasion in February has turned life in Ukraine upside down for nine months so far. But just over a month ago, Russia began targeting Ukraine’s power grid to crush the country’s resolve by plunging it into cold and darkness. It has now destroyed 50% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

In recent weeks, Ukrainian cities have been increasingly besieged by power outages as Russia escalates its attacks on the country’s power grid. As a result, Ukrainian people and businesses are now suffering daily power outages and have to go for hours without lights, heat and water. On Friday, as Kyiv saw its first snow, Ukraine warned the capital was facing a “full snowfall”. [power] shut down.”

But Ukrainian companies are not giving up.

“When the war started, we made our decision to keep working no matter what,” Gyrin said. “Until the victory of Ukraine. We are determined to keep going.”

humanitarian catastrophe

When Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, he predicted a quick victory.

Instead, Russia has experienced setback after setback. In recent months, its forces have lost large chunks of important territory in eastern Ukraine; Hundreds of thousands of young Russians have fled the country to avoid fighting; and the Internet has been deluged with videos of demoralized Russian conscripts complaining of a lack of food, training and adequate equipment.

Analysts say Russia’s battlefield losses likely prompted the Kremlin to begin using cruise missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones in September to attack Ukraine’s power plants and the smaller power plants that connect its power grid. Since then, Russia has increased its attacks.

Ukraine replied that it would not give in to such an attack. President Volodomyr Zelenskyy said at the end of October: “We are not afraid of the dark. The shelling won’t break us.” The country’s air defense system has shot down at least hundreds of Russian missiles and drones.

Still, Ukraine’s energy grid has suffered severe damage from Russia’s escalating attacks. About half of the country’s energy system is now shut down – up from 30% in mid-October. Last week, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of the national power grid UkrEnergo, warned that the “situation is critical”. Almost all of Ukraine’s major power plants have been hit and Russia is firing missiles faster than Ukraine can repair the grid, he said.

Ukraine’s energy suppliers now have one priority: keeping the lights and heating on and the water running – especially as winter approaches. DTEK, the largest private investor in Ukraine’s energy sector, which provides 20% of the country’s electricity, says its repair teams are working overtime to repair damage to the cities’ energy infrastructure. It has dispatched five emergency teams of engineers to help restore power to Kherson, which Ukrainian forces liberated last weekend. Since then, DTEK teams have already inspected 100 kilometers of the city network.

Courtesy of DTEK

But more equipment such as substations, transformers and circuit breakers is badly needed to continue repairs as “we have already used up all our stocks. We are asking for equipment to get through the winter… and to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe,” said Antonina Antosha, a DTEK spokeswoman Wealth.

Ukraine is trying to address energy shortages by planning its own blackouts to help power rationing and ensure a stable supply – but the blackouts are often sudden.

Nevertheless, many companies refuse to close operations or relocate abroad.

“We are determined to continue”

Businesses across Ukraine are finding creative ways to adapt and continue operating under their new normal.

In April, 38-year-old Nata Smirina – founder and owner of clothing brand Hochusobitake – was forced to flee to Switzerland after Russia bombed her hometown of Kharkiv. “I was paralyzed and didn’t know what to do. The future seemed completely black. I then went out of business,” she said Wealth.

But in June, Smirina resumed operations, with its employees and manufacturers scattered across Ukraine.

“I wanted to support my people and our armed forces and keep my brand alive,” she said.

The shortage of electricity has led to operational difficulties. Nastya Glukchovska, the Kyiv-based sales manager for Hochusobitake, wants to respond to customer inquiries on Instagram — the platform where the brand sells the majority of its products — within seven minutes, otherwise “the lead will go cold,” she said. But the Russian attacks have left Kyiv without internet for an average of four to eight hours a day, meaning their response times could be delayed by hours. The company’s two seamstresses now cut the fabrics at home by candlelight.

They ration their electricity for using the sewing machine and make sure to sew quickly.

Just yesterday, Glukchovska Smirina texted: “We are sitting [here] without water and electricity for the whole weekend.”

Kyiv-based Creative Depo, which makes Ukrainian-branded T-shirts, hoodies and smartphone cases in south-east Dnipro (President Zelenskyy wore his T-shirts), has similarly adjusted its production schedules to accommodate those set by the government to circumvent planned outages, co-founders Yurii Zhaivoronok and Denys Levchenko said Wealth. Power outages, which often occur at least two to three times a day, are “impacting” team productivity and their ability to quickly produce goods and ship orders quickly, and waiting times have increased.

The fact that business operations could stay like this in the long run is “difficult to cope with [emotionally]’ said Zhaivoronok. But during the war, they learned to be flexible and “adapt to the current situation to … solve problems quickly,” he said.

Eugene Kuguk, a 36-year-old entrepreneur from Kyiv, runs two Ukraine-based tech companies that have been recognized by the government as one of Ukraine’s top startups. Agrotop runs remote farm management systems for agribusinesses, while FieldBI is a digital platform that helps businesses manage their farmland.

Courtesy of Eugene Kuguk

He has ensured his staff are equipped with portable chargers, backup generators, flashlights, candles and extra supplies of water. When employees experience major power and heat disruptions, “we have ready locations where internet and power are always available… [where] They and their families can work and live comfortably,” he said for both short and long stays Wealth. Kuguk’s teams also rely on Starlink satellite systems – powered by Elon Musk’s SpaceX – for “always-on access to the internet,” he said.

reconstruction

Trying to work with limited energy, Gyrin struggles to purchase generators for his clinics. The cost of a 30-kilowatt generator has doubled since the pre-war period to $30,000, while delivery times have increased to two weeks from next-day delivery, Gyrin said.

In mid-October, DTEK estimated that $40 million would be needed to repair and replace damaged equipment, but that number “continues to grow.”

“We’re still estimating the damage from the latest attacks, but it’s already clear that it’s in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” Antosha said. Russia slammed Ukraine on Tuesday with the biggest wave of missile attacks in a month, cutting power and internet connectivity in several Ukrainian regions; Zelenskyy said the north and central parts of Ukraine were hit the hardest.

According to estimates by the German research group Kiel Institute for the World Economy, western countries provided Ukraine with around 96.3 billion dollars in loans, military and humanitarian aid from February to October. But Ukraine will need hundreds of billions for post-war reconstruction, part of which will be used to create a clean power grid that is truly independent from Russia.

For entrepreneurs like Smirina, keeping their businesses afloat is now more important than ever: “It’s devastating when you think about it [the war] all the time,” she said. Keeping people busy means “lighting the fire of hope in them… to support themselves and be useful to our country,” she said.

Hochusobitake donates 10% of its proceeds to the Ukrainian army; Creative Depo gives away half of its profits and has bought bulletproof vests for Ukrainian soldiers. But more important than their donations, companies registered in Ukraine also pay taxes, which helps the Ukrainian government fund its military.

Courtesy of CreativeDepo

“This is our economic front,” Kuguk said. He stressed that continuing to operate and paying taxes is the “most important thing an entrepreneur can do right now.”

Half of Gyrin’s pre-war clients have now left Ukraine. Now it conducts operations and provides rehabilitation services for Ukrainian soldiers and refugees.

“We have many patients who trust us [and] many employees we work with. We must not let them down,” said Gyrin.