Solutions from Ukraine: Zaporizhzhia builds Ukraine’s first underground energy facilities to protect against Shahed drones and guided bombs

18.08.2026, 15:53 rubryka.com

Russian forces constantly attack energy facilities in Zaporizhzhia. According to Fedorov, Russian troops struck one of the substations more than 15 times last winter. After a transformer was damaged, about 50,000 consumers lost power simultaneously.

A hospital, the heating system in the Borodynskyi neighborhood, and the water supply system on the city's right bank also lost their main power supply. While energy workers restored the equipment, critical facilities switched to generators.

Energy workers managed to return the transformer to operation, and the city emerged from the blackout. At the same time, severe frost complicated the situation, with temperatures dropping to 12 degrees below zero. After that, the substation began receiving additional protection.

The regional head stressed that Zaporizhzhia became the first city in Ukraine to begin construction of underground structures for energy facilities.

According to him, more than half of the key transformers have already received protection. Authorities plan to complete work at all facilities before the start of winter.

We are building underground structures at two transformer substations. No one in Ukraine has done this before; we are doing it first and for the first time," Fedorov said.

He added that the installed protective structures have already passed practical tests. One of them withstood a Shahed attack, while a guided aerial bomb hit near another.

Another area of the region's preparation for possible attacks involves increasing the stock of powerful generators. Fedorov said that after the substation was damaged in winter, specialists estimated it would take about three days to restore it. During that period, industrial generators supplied electricity to some consumers.

"Do you remember when the enemy knocked out one of the substations in winter? We calculated that it would take three days to restore it. What did we do? We brought large industrial generators to the buildings and launched them. Now the mobile reserve is much larger thanks to our international donors. We are one of the few regions that are 100% supplied with backup diesel generators," he said.

The head of the regional military administration also noted that other regions draw on the Zaporizhzhia region's experience in keeping critical infrastructure operational during regular attacks. According to him, preparing the energy system for winter and keeping it running even in the event of new strikes remain among the priorities.

Background

It should be noted that Kyiv is updating data on residents with limited mobility who may need assistance or temporary relocation in the event of prolonged heating and electricity outages. City services want to determine in advance where such people actually live and calculate the number of places needed to accommodate them.

As Rubryka reported, last winter, the occupiers launched massive attacks on energy facilities in Kyiv. As a result of Russia's strike on Kyiv's energy infrastructure, the Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi districts, as well as more than 1,000 apartment buildings across the city, were left without heating.

DTEK said the Russians struck power generation and electricity distribution facilities. In particular, combined heat and power plants and thermal power plants operating in heating mode in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro were targeted. DTEK thermal power plants also suffered heavy damage.