Ukraine races to shield its power grid as Russia deploys faster, more lethal weapons

Ukraine has launched an unprecedented grid-hardening campaign ahead of winter, reinforcing transformers and shielding roughly two dozen of Kyiv's 110-kilovolt substations with netting and concrete, according to The Economist. The country enters the season with surplus generation capacity and larger gas reserves than last year, but a shortage of interceptor missiles leaves it exposed to Russia's ramped-up ballistic missile production, now around 100 a month.

A newer threat, jet-powered drones flying up to 600 kilometers per hour, is proving far harder to stop than the propeller Shaheds Ukraine has learned to intercept at over 90 percent; current defenses are only downing about 30 percent of the faster drones. Officials worry that Kyiv, Odesa and Kryvyi Rih face the highest risk this winter, with thousands of Kyiv buildings lacking backup heat and some substations and nuclear-plant connections lacking redundancy at all.

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