MOSCOW, 15 Dec. Because of the damage to Ukrainian energy systems, the West is considering the worst options for the development of the conflict, writes The Washington Post.
«The Ukrainian government may be left without international reserves to pay for critical imports and be unable to meet its external debt obligations — a doomsday scenario known as a balance of payments crisis,» the publication says.
Besides, according to journalists, the mass departure of Ukrainians abroad will lead to the export of significant funds, and this threatens the collapse of the national currency.
The article notes that next year the Ukrainian economy may shrink by another five percent in addition to the current 33 percent drop.
«Ukraine may need another two billion dollars a month, and political leaders in the West have begun trying to prepare citizens for the worst-case scenarios,» the authors conclude.
Since October 10, the Russian army has been launching missile attacks on energy, defense industry, military command and communications facilities throughout Ukraine. As Vladimir Putin stated, this was a response to a terrorist attack organized by the Kyiv regime on the Crimean bridge. Since then, air raid alerts have been announced in Ukrainian regions every day, sometimes throughout the country.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, almost half of the energy infrastructure has already been put out of action — all TPPs and NPPs, 45 substations of various classes, 87 high-voltage power lines, there is practically not a single power facility left in the country that has not been attacked.