Why Kyiv’s CHP cannot be fully protected: Expert explanation
Air defense cannot handle attacks on a CHP plant, as too many targets are incoming simultaneously.
CHP repairs underway / © Associated Press / © Associated Press
During the massive Russian strike on January 9, Kyiv’s major combined heat and power plants, CHP-5 and CHP-6, which provide more than half of the city’s heat and electricity, sustained significant damage. No protective structure could have stopped ballistic missiles.
Serhii Nahorniak, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy, Housing and Utilities Services, said this on KYIV24.
«A protective structure can only shield a specific element at a thermal or hydroelectric power plant, or at a Ukrenergo substation, from „Shaheds“ or cruise missiles — some small object that can be physically protected. But the power plant itself cannot be defended, because „Shaheds“ and cruise and ballistic missiles arrived almost simultaneously over Kyiv, ” he said.
CHP-5 and CHP-6 have still not been repaired. The situation is extremely difficult, Nahorniak says.