Ukraine faces its most challenging winter as russia relentlessly strikes its energy system to plunge the nation into cold and darkness.

Since mid-October, russia's carried out five mass missile attacks that have damaged 50%  of Ukraine's energy system and made long power outages a new reality for many Ukrainians.

And every missile strike is yet another uphill battle for DTEK.

"Every scenario is possible," Serhii Kovalenko, CEO of Yasno (DTEK Solutions), told the Kyiv Independent, not dismissing potentially prolonged mass blackouts across Ukraine in case of renewed russian attacks.

"No matter how you prepare, it is still very difficult to predict what's going to happen."

Despite that, Oleksandr Fomenko, the head of DTEK Grids, argued that the country's grid was large and solid enough to withstand the winter ahead.

The Kyiv Independent talked to Kovalenko and Fomenko about the work to repair the damaged infrastructure and what Ukraine should expect entering its coldest, darkest months.

Read more here - The Kyiv Independent.