As of July 16, the protective structures being built at substations in the Kyiv region were 40% complete. Work slowed down later. The Kyiv Regional Military Administration has now initiated the transfer of the facilities to the Agency for Restoration so that construction can be completed.
This was stated by Minister of Restoration, Infrastructure and Transport Mykola Kalashnyk while speaking to journalists.
“When I left my position as head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration on July 16, construction of protective structures for transformers at 26 substations was 40.02% complete. Today, it stands at 55%. I take responsibility for the decisions we made while I was heading the region,” Kalashnyk said.
According to him, between July 16 and October 5, the completion rate increased from 40.02% to 46.75%, representing an average rise of approximately 0.6 percentage points per week.
“On September 30, we reviewed reports from the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection at a separate meeting concerning the Kyiv region. On October 5, the Coordination Center, chaired by the Prime Minister, recorded the risk of missing deadlines in Protocol No. 15. The Ministry placed the Kyiv region under separate coordination. Since then, the completion rate has increased by an average of 1.6 percentage points per week. Work is continuing amid a funding shortfall,” the minister noted.
On October 13, the Kyiv Regional Military Administration initiated the transfer of the facilities to the Agency for Restoration so that construction could continue. Accordingly, the agency will select the contractor to complete the work.
Kalashnyk said the Agency for Restoration would be responsible for completing the protective structures for the transformers, connecting them, and ensuring electricity transmission. An audit will also be conducted with the involvement of the State Audit Service.
The minister noted that the list of substations where protective structures would be built had been drawn up jointly with DTEK Kyiv Regional Power Grids.
“Overall, the Kyiv region’s resilience plan covered 165 critical infrastructure facilities. The second level of engineering protection was предусмотрed for transformers at 26 substations with a voltage of 110 kV. The figures concerning advance payments and construction progress refer specifically to these facilities,” he added.
He also said that contracts for the construction of substation protection in the Kyiv region had been signed by the Regional Development Department of the Regional Military Administration. Their implementation was overseen by the administration’s deputy head at the time, Ruslan Oliinyk.
“The government’s experimental project allowed direct contracts to be signed for work to protect critical infrastructure. Oversight of its implementation was assigned to my then-deputy, Ruslan Oliinyk,” Kalashnyk said.
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He noted that on March 28, the General Staff announced the first approval of engineering protection based on a standard design. According to the minister, the design documentation also underwent expert review at the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise.
“During my tenure as head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, the department transferred UAH 621.34 million in advance payments to contractors from the state budget. Since July 17, another UAH 290.10 million has been transferred from the state and regional budgets. The total amount of advance payments is UAH 911.44 million,” Kalashnyk added.
As reported, UAH 67.6 billion has been allocated in the 2026 budget to implement resilience plans. An additional approximately UAH 60 billion is needed to complete projects already underway and build the next phase of protective structures.
Photo: Mykola Kalashnyk/Facebook