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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,268

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,268

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Here are the key events on day 1,268 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Friday, August 15:

Fighting

  • Ukrainian drones struck two Russian cities in attacks that injured at least 16 people, local authorities said.
  • Thirteen people were wounded, two seriously, when a drone struck an apartment building in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, and three civilians were wounded in the city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine.
  • The Ukrainian military said its drones hit a Russian refinery in the Volgograd region overnight, causing huge fires.
  • Russia’s Defence Ministry said Russian forces captured the settlements of Shcherbynivka and Andriivka-Klevtsove in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
  • Ukrainian troops have stabilised an area of eastern Ukraine where Russian forces had made a sudden push this week to pierce Ukrainian defences, the Donetsk region’s Governor Vadym Filashkin said.
  • Ukraine said small groups of Russian infantry had thrust some 10 kilometres (six miles) towards its main defensive line near the town of Dobropillia, raising fears of a wider breakthrough on the front line that would further threaten key Ukrainian cities.
  • The Russian advance, coming as United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are due to meet in Alaska on Friday, appears aimed at pressuring Kyiv to give up land in return for peace with Russia, observers said.

Alaska summit

  • Trump said he believes Putin is ready to end his war in Ukraine, speaking on the eve of Friday’s summit between the two leaders in the city of Anchorage, but a peace deal would likely require at least a second meeting involving Ukraine’s leader, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
  • Trump and Putin will meet face-to-face on Friday before holding a joint news conference, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.

  • Trump will go into talks with Putin hoping to achieve a halt to the fighting in Ukraine, but a solution to the war will take longer, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

  • Putin said the US was making “sincere efforts” to halt the war in Ukraine and suggested Moscow and Washington could agree on a nuclear arms deal as part of a wider effort to strengthen peace.
  • Putin said “in order to create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole”, there could be agreements reached “in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons”.
  • The Kremlin warned it would be a big mistake to predict the outcome of the upcoming summit, the state-run Interfax news agency reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were no plans to sign any documents following the summit.
  • The talks in Alaska between Trump and Putin present a viable chance to make progress on ending the war in Ukraine, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said in a statement.

Military aid

  • Zelenskyy said he had a detailed discussion on possible security guarantees for Ukraine during a “productive meeting” with the United Kingdom’s Starmer.
  • Zelenskyy said Kyiv had so far secured $1.5bn from its European allies to buy US weapons as part of a mechanism – the NATO Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List initiative – that he said “truly strengthens our defence”.
  • French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump expressed a willingness to European leaders on Wednesday that the US and other allies should be part of giving Ukraine security guarantees to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
  • The US Agency for International Development (USAID) did not monitor the uses of 5,175 Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine, with nearly half of the operational units ending up in areas fully or partly held by Moscow, according to a report by the agency’s internal watchdog.

Prisoners of war

  • The United Arab Emirates has successfully mediated a new exchange of captives between Russia and Ukraine. Some 84 captives were released from each side, bringing the total number exchanged through UAE mediation to 4,349.
  • Ukraine brought home 84 prisoners of war that included 51 civilians, Ukrainian officials said, at least one of whom had been held for more than a decade.

Regional developments

  • Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an official visit to Pyongyang, the Russian parliament said. Volodin, a close ally of Putin, conveyed greetings from the Russian leader and thanked Kim for North Korea’s support of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.

Economy

  • Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko ordered a review of all licences to mine strategic minerals in the country, as part of a broader effort to help the war-ravaged economy and secure new investments under a minerals deal with the US.

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US President Donald Trump told the BBC on Thursday that British King Charles’ coming state visit to the United States could “absolutely” help rebuild strained ties between the two countries.

Charles heads to the US on Monday for a four-day trip, with transatlantic tensions over the Iran war and scandals linked to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatening to intrude on the landmark visit.

Asked by the BBC whether Charles’s visit could help repair the relationship between the US and UK, Trump told the BBC: “Absolutely. He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes.”

Charles will be making his first state visit to the US as a monarch, at the request of the UK government and Trump.

He will travel to the US with Queen Camilla and then visit Bermuda alone.

Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla stand with US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the state banquet at Windsor Castle in September 2025. Photo: Reuters
Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla stand with US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the state banquet at Windsor Castle in September 2025. Photo: Reuters

Trump has harshly criticised British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not joining the US-Israeli war on Iran, launched on February 28.

#Trump #King #Charles #visit #absolutely #repair #USUK #tiesIran, North Sea, UK, Donald Trump, Peter Mandelson, British King Charles, BBC, Keir Starmer, United States, US, Queen Camilla, Epstein, Labour, Jeffrey Epstein, Bermuda">Trump says King Charles’ visit could ‘absolutely’ repair US-UK tiesUS President Donald Trump told the BBC on Thursday that British King Charles’ coming state visit to the United States could “absolutely” help rebuild strained ties between the two countries.Charles heads to the US on Monday for a four-day trip, with transatlantic tensions over the Iran war and scandals linked to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatening to intrude on the landmark visit.Asked by the BBC whether Charles’s visit could help repair the relationship between the US and UK, Trump told the BBC: “Absolutely. He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes.”Charles will be making his first state visit to the US as a monarch, at the request of the UK government and Trump.He will travel to the US with Queen Camilla and then visit Bermuda alone.Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla stand with US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the state banquet at Windsor Castle in September 2025. Photo: ReutersTrump has harshly criticised British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not joining the US-Israeli war on Iran, launched on February 28.#Trump #King #Charles #visit #absolutely #repair #USUK #tiesIran, North Sea, UK, Donald Trump, Peter Mandelson, British King Charles, BBC, Keir Starmer, United States, US, Queen Camilla, Epstein, Labour, Jeffrey Epstein, Bermuda

In autumn 2024, Russia launched massive aerial assaults on Ukraine, pounding its energy system and raising fears about the safety of its nuclear power plants. Several reactors disconnected from the grid. One shut down entirely.

“It wasn’t that we were scared,” says Shaun Burnie, recalling that night. “It was that we were terrified.”

For Greenpeace veteran nuclear specialist Burnie, who has worked in some of the most radioactive places on earth, the danger lay in what could have followed.

A man wearing glasses, an orange hard hat, face mask and protective gear standing inside the Chernobyl new safe confinement. He is being interviewed.
Shaun Burnie has been inside the structure protecing the Chernobyl reactor three times and says he’s not keen to have to make too many return visitsImage: Pavlo Siromenko/Greenpeace

Nuclear plants rely on a constant external power supply to run cooling systems for the reactor core and spent fuel. If the grid buckles and plants disconnect, they switch to diesel generators.

In a worst-case scenario, if they can’t reconnect, cooling systems fail and reactors overheat. Ukraine knows what that means. On April 26 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands from the area and contaminating large parts of Europe.

“Chernobyl is part of our collective memory. Everyone has family or community stories about it,” says Lena Kondratiuk, a 25-year-old from Rivne in western Ukraine. “And now, during the war, this meaning has become even more real.”

The lasting legacy of Chernobyl

A system under pressure

Though Ukraine still depends on nuclear energy for more than half of its electricity and plans to build more reactors, the worst-case scenario hasn’t happened. But the threat remains as Russia continues to target energy infrastructure.

More than half of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been damaged or destroyed. UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called the situation “the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety.” 

Because large, centralized plants — nuclear, coal, or gas — that generate huge amounts of electricity in one place are such easy targets, decentralization is an attractive idea.

And that also means more renewable energy, which is harder to target, cheaper to fix, and faster to deploy.

Chris Alyett, an energy specialist at UK think tank Chatham House said that while a single missile can take out a 250-megawatt coal plant, it would require 40 to destroy the same capacity in wind generation. Solar parks are also more resistant.

“If there is damage to that, it doesn’t necessarily need to take everything out — you could swap new panels in,” Aylett said.

A man in an orange hard hat repairing a damaged electricity substation
Engineers repairing the grid have helped avert disaster, but some have been killed in Russian “double tap” strikes in the course of their workImage: Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/REUTERS

These benefits are driving Ukrainian energy companies and NGOs to push renewables. Rooftop solar now covers hospitals, schools, and public buildings. In 2025, the country installed enough to power over a million homes, all while under fire.

Keeping the lights on with renewables

Lena Kondratiuk is part of that effort. She joined the NGO Ecoclub as a volunteer at 18, before taking on a job as renewables analyst there in 2020. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, the organization shifted from advocacy worked and launched the Solar Aid for Ukraine campaign, as power outages became a part of daily life.

At 21, she began managing projects. At first, she was daunted by the responsibility but agreed to it “because of the war, because I understand that, for example, I can die tomorrow.”

A woman smiling and standing in front of solar panels
Lena Kondratiuk travels around the country bringing solar power to communities with NGO Ecoclub Image: Ecoclub

Like many Ukrainians she has learned to adapt. Her work now takes her all over the country, including south to Mykolaiv, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the front line. On her first trip to the city, it was being shelled and running on diesel generators.

“I didn’t want to come back to the city because I’m scared,” she says.

Now Kondraktiuk makes the 13-hour trip around once a month, even as Russia targets passenger trains. She loves it there because of the people. “They teach that even during such a war time it’s still possible to find happy moments in your life and continue it.”

Renewable energy as survival

Despite the risks, Kondratiuk has helped bring nearly 90 solar systems online. In places like Mykolaiv, these systems are more than green energy, they are lifelines.

“Renewable energy in Ukraine is not about the climate and sustainability; it’s about surviving now,” says Kondratiuk. “It’s about the access to basic needs.”

These solar and battery systems keep water utilities running during blackouts. They also enable hospitals to operate and children to charge their phones during outages so they can keep in touch with their parents.

Three men installing solar panels on a rooftop
Hybrid solar and battery systems have proven to be a lifeline for Ukrainians during blackoutsImage: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP

One project she worked on installed solar panels at a care home for women with mental health and neurological conditions. Before the installation, staff woke at 4am to try and prepare meals ahead of power cuts, but the patients often went without warm food.

“And after that they were happy because they have like access to everything,” she says.

Lessons learned from Ukraine

The priority for Ukrainians is to keep power flowing. Nuclear has been essential to that, and without it, experts say Ukraine would be in a far worse position given how much fossil fuel capacity has been destroyed during the war. The country still needs baseload power.

Chris Aylett has been looking at what other countries in Europe can learn from Ukraine’s experience of running an energy grid under constant attack.

“They’ve gone through this terrible experience, they’re continuing to go through it, they’ve shown amazing sort of ingenuity at rebuilding fast and it’s told us a lot about what’s vulnerable and what you need to consider,” he says.

The hidden cost of nuclear power

The main lesson is the geographical spread of infrastructure — and that applies regardless of energy source. Diversifying the mix, with more renewables and storage, is another. As is stockpiling the right components that keep a system running — and standardizing them, so restoration takes weeks rather than months.

Alyett says the war, and the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, have further made the case for rapid decarbonization and renewables in “fossil-fuel poor” Europe, alongside “tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

On nuclear’s future, he is pragmatic, saying that in countries such as France, where it is a major energy source, he sees no reason for that to stop. “Ultimately you just want to build out as much low carbon as you can, and make it as secure as you can while you’re doing it.”

Kondratiuk says she’s glad she was born long after Chernobyl — even as she lives through a different kind of disaster in Ukraine, one she doesn’t expect to end soon. But she’s still looking to a time when the war is over.

“I still want to help my country, still want to continue my work at the Ecoclub and I still think that even after the war and after our victory there would be even more work compared to now because we have to rebuild the country and rebuild it in greener and better way,” she says.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

This story was adapted from an episode of DW’s Living Planet podcast. 

#Ukraine #rebuilding #energy #system #fire">How Ukraine is rebuilding its energy system under fireIn autumn 2024, Russia launched massive aerial assaults on Ukraine, pounding its energy system and raising fears about the safety of its nuclear power plants. Several reactors disconnected from the grid. One shut down entirely. “It wasn’t that we were scared,” says Shaun Burnie, recalling that night. “It was that we were terrified.” For Greenpeace veteran nuclear specialist Burnie, who has worked in some of the most radioactive places on earth, the danger lay in what could have followed.Shaun Burnie has been inside the structure protecing the Chernobyl reactor three times and says he’s not keen to have to make too many return visitsImage: Pavlo Siromenko/Greenpeace Nuclear plants rely on a constant external power supply to run cooling systems for the reactor core and spent fuel. If the grid buckles and plants disconnect, they switch to diesel generators. In a worst-case scenario, if they can’t reconnect, cooling systems fail and reactors overheat. Ukraine knows what that means. On April 26 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands from the area and contaminating large parts of Europe. “Chernobyl is part of our collective memory. Everyone has family or community stories about it,” says Lena Kondratiuk, a 25-year-old from Rivne in western Ukraine. “And now, during the war, this meaning has become even more real.”The lasting legacy of ChernobylTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A system under pressure Though Ukraine still depends on nuclear energy for more than half of its electricity and plans to build more reactors, the worst-case scenario hasn’t happened. But the threat remains as Russia continues to target energy infrastructure. More than half of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been damaged or destroyed. UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called the situation “the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety.”  Because large, centralized plants — nuclear, coal, or gas — that generate huge amounts of electricity in one place are such easy targets, decentralization is an attractive idea. And that also means more renewable energy, which is harder to target, cheaper to fix, and faster to deploy. Chris Alyett, an energy specialist at UK think tank Chatham House said that while a single missile can take out a 250-megawatt coal plant, it would require 40 to destroy the same capacity in wind generation. Solar parks are also more resistant. “If there is damage to that, it doesn’t necessarily need to take everything out — you could swap new panels in,” Aylett said. Engineers repairing the grid have helped avert disaster, but some have been killed in Russian “double tap” strikes in the course of their workImage: Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/REUTERSThese benefits are driving Ukrainian energy companies and NGOs to push renewables. Rooftop solar now covers hospitals, schools, and public buildings. In 2025, the country installed enough to power over a million homes, all while under fire. Keeping the lights on with renewables Lena Kondratiuk is part of that effort. She joined the NGO Ecoclub as a volunteer at 18, before taking on a job as renewables analyst there in 2020. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, the organization shifted from advocacy worked and launched the Solar Aid for Ukraine campaign, as power outages became a part of daily life. At 21, she began managing projects. At first, she was daunted by the responsibility but agreed to it “because of the war, because I understand that, for example, I can die tomorrow.”Lena Kondratiuk travels around the country bringing solar power to communities with NGO Ecoclub Image: Ecoclub Like many Ukrainians she has learned to adapt. Her work now takes her all over the country, including south to Mykolaiv, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the front line. On her first trip to the city, it was being shelled and running on diesel generators. “I didn’t want to come back to the city because I’m scared,” she says. Now Kondraktiuk makes the 13-hour trip around once a month, even as Russia targets passenger trains. She loves it there because of the people. “They teach that even during such a war time it’s still possible to find happy moments in your life and continue it.” Renewable energy as survival Despite the risks, Kondratiuk has helped bring nearly 90 solar systems online. In places like Mykolaiv, these systems are more than green energy, they are lifelines. “Renewable energy in Ukraine is not about the climate and sustainability; it’s about surviving now,” says Kondratiuk. “It’s about the access to basic needs.” These solar and battery systems keep water utilities running during blackouts. They also enable hospitals to operate and children to charge their phones during outages so they can keep in touch with their parents.Hybrid solar and battery systems have proven to be a lifeline for Ukrainians during blackoutsImage: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP One project she worked on installed solar panels at a care home for women with mental health and neurological conditions. Before the installation, staff woke at 4am to try and prepare meals ahead of power cuts, but the patients often went without warm food. “And after that they were happy because they have like access to everything,” she says. Lessons learned from Ukraine The priority for Ukrainians is to keep power flowing. Nuclear has been essential to that, and without it, experts say Ukraine would be in a far worse position given how much fossil fuel capacity has been destroyed during the war. The country still needs baseload power. Chris Aylett has been looking at what other countries in Europe can learn from Ukraine’s experience of running an energy grid under constant attack. “They’ve gone through this terrible experience, they’re continuing to go through it, they’ve shown amazing sort of ingenuity at rebuilding fast and it’s told us a lot about what’s vulnerable and what you need to consider,” he says.The hidden cost of nuclear powerTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The main lesson is the geographical spread of infrastructure — and that applies regardless of energy source. Diversifying the mix, with more renewables and storage, is another. As is stockpiling the right components that keep a system running — and standardizing them, so restoration takes weeks rather than months. Alyett says the war, and the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, have further made the case for rapid decarbonization and renewables in “fossil-fuel poor” Europe, alongside “tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” On nuclear’s future, he is pragmatic, saying that in countries such as France, where it is a major energy source, he sees no reason for that to stop. “Ultimately you just want to build out as much low carbon as you can, and make it as secure as you can while you’re doing it.” Kondratiuk says she’s glad she was born long after Chernobyl — even as she lives through a different kind of disaster in Ukraine, one she doesn’t expect to end soon. But she’s still looking to a time when the war is over. “I still want to help my country, still want to continue my work at the Ecoclub and I still think that even after the war and after our victory there would be even more work compared to now because we have to rebuild the country and rebuild it in greener and better way,” she says. Edited by: Tamsin Walker This story was adapted from an episode of DW’s Living Planet podcast.  #Ukraine #rebuilding #energy #system #fire

safety of its nuclear power plants. Several reactors disconnected from the grid. One shut down entirely.

“It wasn’t that we were scared,” says Shaun Burnie, recalling that night. “It was that we were terrified.”

For Greenpeace veteran nuclear specialist Burnie, who has worked in some of the most radioactive places on earth, the danger lay in what could have followed.

A man wearing glasses, an orange hard hat, face mask and protective gear standing inside the Chernobyl new safe confinement. He is being interviewed.
Shaun Burnie has been inside the structure protecing the Chernobyl reactor three times and says he’s not keen to have to make too many return visitsImage: Pavlo Siromenko/Greenpeace

Nuclear plants rely on a constant external power supply to run cooling systems for the reactor core and spent fuel. If the grid buckles and plants disconnect, they switch to diesel generators.

In a worst-case scenario, if they can’t reconnect, cooling systems fail and reactors overheat. Ukraine knows what that means. On April 26 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands from the area and contaminating large parts of Europe.

“Chernobyl is part of our collective memory. Everyone has family or community stories about it,” says Lena Kondratiuk, a 25-year-old from Rivne in western Ukraine. “And now, during the war, this meaning has become even more real.”

The lasting legacy of Chernobyl

A system under pressure

Though Ukraine still depends on nuclear energy for more than half of its electricity and plans to build more reactors, the worst-case scenario hasn’t happened. But the threat remains as Russia continues to target energy infrastructure.

More than half of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been damaged or destroyed. UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called the situation “the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety.” 

Because large, centralized plants — nuclear, coal, or gas — that generate huge amounts of electricity in one place are such easy targets, decentralization is an attractive idea.

And that also means more renewable energy, which is harder to target, cheaper to fix, and faster to deploy.

Chris Alyett, an energy specialist at UK think tank Chatham House said that while a single missile can take out a 250-megawatt coal plant, it would require 40 to destroy the same capacity in wind generation. Solar parks are also more resistant.

“If there is damage to that, it doesn’t necessarily need to take everything out — you could swap new panels in,” Aylett said.

A man in an orange hard hat repairing a damaged electricity substation
Engineers repairing the grid have helped avert disaster, but some have been killed in Russian “double tap” strikes in the course of their workImage: Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/REUTERS

These benefits are driving Ukrainian energy companies and NGOs to push renewables. Rooftop solar now covers hospitals, schools, and public buildings. In 2025, the country installed enough to power over a million homes, all while under fire.

Keeping the lights on with renewables

Lena Kondratiuk is part of that effort. She joined the NGO Ecoclub as a volunteer at 18, before taking on a job as renewables analyst there in 2020. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, the organization shifted from advocacy worked and launched the Solar Aid for Ukraine campaign, as power outages became a part of daily life.

At 21, she began managing projects. At first, she was daunted by the responsibility but agreed to it “because of the war, because I understand that, for example, I can die tomorrow.”

A woman smiling and standing in front of solar panels
Lena Kondratiuk travels around the country bringing solar power to communities with NGO Ecoclub Image: Ecoclub

Like many Ukrainians she has learned to adapt. Her work now takes her all over the country, including south to Mykolaiv, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the front line. On her first trip to the city, it was being shelled and running on diesel generators.

“I didn’t want to come back to the city because I’m scared,” she says.

Now Kondraktiuk makes the 13-hour trip around once a month, even as Russia targets passenger trains. She loves it there because of the people. “They teach that even during such a war time it’s still possible to find happy moments in your life and continue it.”

Renewable energy as survival

Despite the risks, Kondratiuk has helped bring nearly 90 solar systems online. In places like Mykolaiv, these systems are more than green energy, they are lifelines.

“Renewable energy in Ukraine is not about the climate and sustainability; it’s about surviving now,” says Kondratiuk. “It’s about the access to basic needs.”

These solar and battery systems keep water utilities running during blackouts. They also enable hospitals to operate and children to charge their phones during outages so they can keep in touch with their parents.

Three men installing solar panels on a rooftop
Hybrid solar and battery systems have proven to be a lifeline for Ukrainians during blackoutsImage: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP

One project she worked on installed solar panels at a care home for women with mental health and neurological conditions. Before the installation, staff woke at 4am to try and prepare meals ahead of power cuts, but the patients often went without warm food.

“And after that they were happy because they have like access to everything,” she says.

Lessons learned from Ukraine

The priority for Ukrainians is to keep power flowing. Nuclear has been essential to that, and without it, experts say Ukraine would be in a far worse position given how much fossil fuel capacity has been destroyed during the war. The country still needs baseload power.

Chris Aylett has been looking at what other countries in Europe can learn from Ukraine’s experience of running an energy grid under constant attack.

“They’ve gone through this terrible experience, they’re continuing to go through it, they’ve shown amazing sort of ingenuity at rebuilding fast and it’s told us a lot about what’s vulnerable and what you need to consider,” he says.

The hidden cost of nuclear power

The main lesson is the geographical spread of infrastructure — and that applies regardless of energy source. Diversifying the mix, with more renewables and storage, is another. As is stockpiling the right components that keep a system running — and standardizing them, so restoration takes weeks rather than months.

Alyett says the war, and the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, have further made the case for rapid decarbonization and renewables in “fossil-fuel poor” Europe, alongside “tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

On nuclear’s future, he is pragmatic, saying that in countries such as France, where it is a major energy source, he sees no reason for that to stop. “Ultimately you just want to build out as much low carbon as you can, and make it as secure as you can while you’re doing it.”

Kondratiuk says she’s glad she was born long after Chernobyl — even as she lives through a different kind of disaster in Ukraine, one she doesn’t expect to end soon. But she’s still looking to a time when the war is over.

“I still want to help my country, still want to continue my work at the Ecoclub and I still think that even after the war and after our victory there would be even more work compared to now because we have to rebuild the country and rebuild it in greener and better way,” she says.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

This story was adapted from an episode of DW’s Living Planet podcast. 

#Ukraine #rebuilding #energy #system #fire">How Ukraine is rebuilding its energy system under fire

In autumn 2024, Russia launched massive aerial assaults on Ukraine, pounding its energy system and raising fears about the safety of its nuclear power plants. Several reactors disconnected from the grid. One shut down entirely.

“It wasn’t that we were scared,” says Shaun Burnie, recalling that night. “It was that we were terrified.”

For Greenpeace veteran nuclear specialist Burnie, who has worked in some of the most radioactive places on earth, the danger lay in what could have followed.

A man wearing glasses, an orange hard hat, face mask and protective gear standing inside the Chernobyl new safe confinement. He is being interviewed.
Shaun Burnie has been inside the structure protecing the Chernobyl reactor three times and says he’s not keen to have to make too many return visitsImage: Pavlo Siromenko/Greenpeace

Nuclear plants rely on a constant external power supply to run cooling systems for the reactor core and spent fuel. If the grid buckles and plants disconnect, they switch to diesel generators.

In a worst-case scenario, if they can’t reconnect, cooling systems fail and reactors overheat. Ukraine knows what that means. On April 26 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands from the area and contaminating large parts of Europe.

“Chernobyl is part of our collective memory. Everyone has family or community stories about it,” says Lena Kondratiuk, a 25-year-old from Rivne in western Ukraine. “And now, during the war, this meaning has become even more real.”

The lasting legacy of Chernobyl

A system under pressure

Though Ukraine still depends on nuclear energy for more than half of its electricity and plans to build more reactors, the worst-case scenario hasn’t happened. But the threat remains as Russia continues to target energy infrastructure.

More than half of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been damaged or destroyed. UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called the situation “the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety.” 

Because large, centralized plants — nuclear, coal, or gas — that generate huge amounts of electricity in one place are such easy targets, decentralization is an attractive idea.

And that also means more renewable energy, which is harder to target, cheaper to fix, and faster to deploy.

Chris Alyett, an energy specialist at UK think tank Chatham House said that while a single missile can take out a 250-megawatt coal plant, it would require 40 to destroy the same capacity in wind generation. Solar parks are also more resistant.

“If there is damage to that, it doesn’t necessarily need to take everything out — you could swap new panels in,” Aylett said.

A man in an orange hard hat repairing a damaged electricity substation
Engineers repairing the grid have helped avert disaster, but some have been killed in Russian “double tap” strikes in the course of their workImage: Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/REUTERS

These benefits are driving Ukrainian energy companies and NGOs to push renewables. Rooftop solar now covers hospitals, schools, and public buildings. In 2025, the country installed enough to power over a million homes, all while under fire.

Keeping the lights on with renewables

Lena Kondratiuk is part of that effort. She joined the NGO Ecoclub as a volunteer at 18, before taking on a job as renewables analyst there in 2020. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, the organization shifted from advocacy worked and launched the Solar Aid for Ukraine campaign, as power outages became a part of daily life.

At 21, she began managing projects. At first, she was daunted by the responsibility but agreed to it “because of the war, because I understand that, for example, I can die tomorrow.”

A woman smiling and standing in front of solar panels
Lena Kondratiuk travels around the country bringing solar power to communities with NGO Ecoclub Image: Ecoclub

Like many Ukrainians she has learned to adapt. Her work now takes her all over the country, including south to Mykolaiv, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the front line. On her first trip to the city, it was being shelled and running on diesel generators.

“I didn’t want to come back to the city because I’m scared,” she says.

Now Kondraktiuk makes the 13-hour trip around once a month, even as Russia targets passenger trains. She loves it there because of the people. “They teach that even during such a war time it’s still possible to find happy moments in your life and continue it.”

Renewable energy as survival

Despite the risks, Kondratiuk has helped bring nearly 90 solar systems online. In places like Mykolaiv, these systems are more than green energy, they are lifelines.

“Renewable energy in Ukraine is not about the climate and sustainability; it’s about surviving now,” says Kondratiuk. “It’s about the access to basic needs.”

These solar and battery systems keep water utilities running during blackouts. They also enable hospitals to operate and children to charge their phones during outages so they can keep in touch with their parents.

Three men installing solar panels on a rooftop
Hybrid solar and battery systems have proven to be a lifeline for Ukrainians during blackoutsImage: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP

One project she worked on installed solar panels at a care home for women with mental health and neurological conditions. Before the installation, staff woke at 4am to try and prepare meals ahead of power cuts, but the patients often went without warm food.

“And after that they were happy because they have like access to everything,” she says.

Lessons learned from Ukraine

The priority for Ukrainians is to keep power flowing. Nuclear has been essential to that, and without it, experts say Ukraine would be in a far worse position given how much fossil fuel capacity has been destroyed during the war. The country still needs baseload power.

Chris Aylett has been looking at what other countries in Europe can learn from Ukraine’s experience of running an energy grid under constant attack.

“They’ve gone through this terrible experience, they’re continuing to go through it, they’ve shown amazing sort of ingenuity at rebuilding fast and it’s told us a lot about what’s vulnerable and what you need to consider,” he says.

The hidden cost of nuclear power

The main lesson is the geographical spread of infrastructure — and that applies regardless of energy source. Diversifying the mix, with more renewables and storage, is another. As is stockpiling the right components that keep a system running — and standardizing them, so restoration takes weeks rather than months.

Alyett says the war, and the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, have further made the case for rapid decarbonization and renewables in “fossil-fuel poor” Europe, alongside “tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

On nuclear’s future, he is pragmatic, saying that in countries such as France, where it is a major energy source, he sees no reason for that to stop. “Ultimately you just want to build out as much low carbon as you can, and make it as secure as you can while you’re doing it.”

Kondratiuk says she’s glad she was born long after Chernobyl — even as she lives through a different kind of disaster in Ukraine, one she doesn’t expect to end soon. But she’s still looking to a time when the war is over.

“I still want to help my country, still want to continue my work at the Ecoclub and I still think that even after the war and after our victory there would be even more work compared to now because we have to rebuild the country and rebuild it in greener and better way,” she says.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

This story was adapted from an episode of DW’s Living Planet podcast. 

#Ukraine #rebuilding #energy #system #fire

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