The Technology Helping Ukraine's Civilians Survive the Russian Winter Offensive

Ukrainian civilians are using a remarkable combination of technology to survive Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. Here is how they are doing it and what European companies are providing.

When Russian strikes destroyed significant portions of Ukraine's electricity generation capacity in the winter of 2022-23, Ukrainian society was forced to adapt to intermittent power in ways that revealed both the resilience of Ukrainian social organization and the specific role that technology plays in that resilience.

By the winter of 2025-26, that adaptation has become systematic. The Ukrainian government's 'Power of Ukraine' digital platform, which provides real-time updates on power supply status across the country's distribution network, has more than 12 million registered users. The platform allows citizens and businesses to plan their activities around power availability windows — to schedule charging of backup batteries, to plan cooking and heating during available power periods, to coordinate community generator use.

European companies have provided significant support to this adaptation ecosystem. Danish manufacturer Grundfos has supplied high-efficiency heat pumps that operate effectively at lower power inputs, critical for households trying to maintain warmth during periods of intermittent electricity. German company SMA Solar Technology has provided solar inverter systems specifically adapted for Ukraine's grid conditions and for island-mode operation during outages. Finnish company Wärtsilä has supplied modular backup generation systems that can serve hospitals, schools, and community centres during extended grid disruptions.

The technology adaptation has extended to communications. SpaceX's Starlink, which provides satellite internet connectivity that is not dependent on ground-based internet infrastructure that Russia targets, has become ubiquitous in Ukrainian homes, businesses, and military units. Alternative satellite providers including European-operated Eutelsat have also expanded their Ukrainian coverage.

The cumulative effect of this technological adaptation is a civilian society that is substantially more resilient to Russian infrastructure attacks than it was in 2022. Russian military planners have noted this and adapted their targeting, focusing increasingly on the distribution infrastructure — substations, transformer stations — that is harder to replace quickly than generation capacity.