Ukraine's Kyivstar adds backup power as Russian strikes strain power grid, CEO says

By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Leo Marchandon

(Reuters) -Ukraine's Kyivstar is ramping up measures to support its web online arsenic Russian strikes strain the country's ​power grid, CEO Oleksandr Komarov said connected Monday.

Russia has intensified attacks connected vigor infrastructure successful ‌Ukraine. On Saturday, a barrage of drones and missiles deed atomic substations, sidesplitting 7 people, successful what ‌state-owned vigor institution Tsentrenergo called the largest onslaught connected its facilities since the commencement of the warfare successful 2022.

"Right now, we person much than 3,500 stationary generators connected to the web successful existent time," Komarov told Reuters.

"But the unit connected the vigor infrastructure is besides growing, due to the fact that this ⁠tolerance spread is decreasing with each attack.‌ The lone reply we person is to summation the fig of generators connected to the network."

Since 2022, Kyivstar has been moving to marque its web ‍better astatine withstanding powerfulness outages. The halfway elements that support the web moving presently person backup powerfulness that tin past up to 3 days, Komarov said.

In flat buildings, much than 90,000 section transportation boxes person ​been fitted with backup solutions that fto them support moving for 10 to 12 hours during an ‌outage, ensuring astir customers person work adjacent if the powerfulness goes out.

WAR WEIGHS ON POST-LISTING VALUATION

In August, Kyivstar became the archetypal Ukrainian steadfast to database connected the U.S. banal exchange, though archetypal enthusiasm has fixed mode to geopolitically driven volatility.

Komarov said helium has mostly been gathering ample U.S. organization investors focused connected telecoms and emerging markets. Their takeaway is that Kyivstar appears "⁠significantly undervalued" due to the fact that of the hard circumstances, helium ​added.

Its genitor institution Veon is moving with the Ukrainian authorities to ​enable Ukrainian retail investors to bargain Kyivstar shares, Veon CEO Kaan Terzioglu told Reuters successful a abstracted interview. Veon holds an 89.6% involvement successful Kyivstar, ‍but further dilution is ⁠possible, helium said.

Earlier connected Monday, Kyivstar reported a astir 20% emergence successful third-quarter gross to $297 cardinal arsenic much Ukrainians utilized its integer services.

Komarov said the effect was supported ⁠by comparative "macroeconomic stability" successful Ukraine, a affirmative interaction of the cardinal bank's policies and planetary enactment ‌to stabilize the section currency.

(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Leo Marchandon successful Gdansk;‌ Editing by Matt Scuffham and Milla Nissi-Prussak)