Ukraine prepares for winter emergencies: regions will hold drills for power, heat, and water outages
Ukrainian regions must conduct command-staff exercises before the 2026–2027 heating season. Services will practice actions during emergencies at heat, electricity, gas, and water supply facilities — including scenarios of prolonged outages and damage to critical infrastructure.
This assignment was given to the regions following a meeting of the headquarters for preparing the housing, communal, and fuel-energy complex for winter. It is not only about repairs: the authorities want to check in advance how quickly energy workers, utility workers, and emergency services can act if several life-support systems fail at once.
What will be practiced during the exercises
The main task is to check the interaction of services before a real emergency occurs. In particular, regions must practice actions during emergencies at electricity, heating, gas, and water supply facilities.
- distribution of responsibilities among services;
- speed of decision-making during major disruptions;
- informing the population;
- restoration of damaged critical infrastructure;
- operation of backup heat supply systems;
- use of emergency reserves of equipment and materials.
Separately, regions are instructed to update plans for temporary heat supply and check whether enterprises have enough specialists in critically important professions.
Why the main emphasis is on backup electricity
One of the most sensitive problems before winter is the ability to maintain heat and water supply when the main grid is disconnected.
According to the updated headquarters data, heat and water supply facilities require backup power with a total capacity of 1214.6 MW. As of August 12, 918.5 MW, or 75.6% of the need, was provided. Thus, about 296.2 MW remains uncovered.
Before the start of the heating season, regions are instructed to increase the volume of backup power by another 20% according to their integrated sustainability plans.
In practice, this means preparing generators and other autonomous energy sources for infrastructure that must continue to operate even if the power system is damaged. Without electricity, problems can quickly go beyond the power outage itself: pumps, equipment, and automation of water supply and heating systems depend on power.
In Rivne region, a separate scenario of simultaneous power, heat, and water outages is being prepared
Preparations in Rivne Oblast have already shown how such checks might look in practice. Tactical-special exercises of the State Emergency Service were announced there for a large-scale disruption of life-support systems after a Russian attack.
The training is planned to involve rescuers, police, the National Guard, medics, energy workers, and local authorities.
The Rivne Regional Military Administration explained that during such an emergency it is necessary to understand in advance who is responsible for each work area, how quickly decisions are made, how the authorities will inform people, and how the restoration of critical infrastructure is organized.
For residents, this part of the preparation has the most practical significance. The purpose of the exercises is not to prevent infrastructure damage itself, but to reduce the time between an accident and an organized response: launching backup systems, restoration work, and informing the population.
Preparation must be completed by October
The authorities have set intermediate targets: by September 1, regional readiness for the autumn-winter period should reach 80%, and by October 1 — 100%.
In parallel, the State Energy Supervision Inspectorate has intensified inspections of energy enterprises. In the first half of 2026, its territorial units conducted 60 scheduled and unscheduled inspections, assessing the technical condition of facilities and risks to electricity supply reliability.
Preparation is carried out taking into account the threat of new Russian strikes on critical infrastructure. Therefore, this year winter readiness is assessed not only by repaired networks and boiler houses, but also by the ability of regions to continue providing basic services to people in emergency mode.
At the same time, conducting exercises does not mean that authorities predict a specific scale or timing of possible outages. This is a test of scenarios that should be ready before the start of the heating season.
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