Ukraine pays repair crews 30,000 hryvnias a month to restore energy networks after attacks

The Ukrainian government on Wednesday, 4 November, approved additional payments of 30,000 hryvnias a month for specialists repairing critical infrastructure damaged by Russian attacks. The decision revives a programme used last winter and, according to Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi, was taken on the direct instruction of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Who gets the money. The state aid is paid for each month of participation in restoration work, from November until the end of the heating season. According to Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, it covers workers involved in repairs to electricity, heating, gas, water supply and sewerage facilities, as well as public railway infrastructure, from November to March. The Energy Ministry drafted the decision, and the programme, run as an experimental project, will be coordinated by the energy and infrastructure ministries. Shmyhal said payments will start this month.

The numbers. Koretskyi wrote that Russia launches 300–400 drones a day at critical infrastructure and regularly strikes with missiles, including ballistic ones. More than 2,000 hits have been recorded since the start of August. "Power lines and open grid elements are being destroyed", and they have to be restored "again and again, in volumes many times larger than in all previous years", the prime minister wrote; his statement was also published by transmission system operator Ukrenergo.

Context. On 2 November Zelensky said he had instructed the government to renew this autumn and winter the programme "that proved itself last year", with monthly top-ups for everyone involved in repairs, and also spoke of rotating the crews working in the hardest conditions. Marking Railway Workers' Day, Shmyhal recalled that almost 3,600 specialists took part in repairing destroyed substations in January–March.

What comes next. For 5 November, Ukrenergo announced power limits for industry and hourly outages of 2 to 4 queues for all consumer categories, as a result of the massive attacks on energy facilities.

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