Currently, about 65% of the Kyivstar network can operate autonomously up to four hours Komarov highlighted this in the event of power outages at the Global Outlook: Promoting Unity conference, Interfax reported. However, significant problems, especially with energy supply, remain.

Energy is our biggest problem. We aim to reach 30% of the network with six-hour redundancy by mid-2025,
Komarov said.

The head of the company also said that the previous attempt to make the Kyivstar network 100 percent autonomous within four hours by 2023 failed due to strategic mistakes, such as the use of lead-acid batteries, which were poorly adapted to work in conditions of unstable energy supply in Ukraine.

“Lead batteries cannot cope with the uncontrolled blackouts we experience, where electricity is cut off for eight hours and then comes back on two hours later. Their performance suffers from this instability,” Komarov said.

Kyivstar is now replacing these batteries to provide better backup support. The company currently has about 2,500 generators in its network and plans to add 1000 more Increasing energy stability.

Komarov also noted that Kyivstar complies with the government’s requirements, in particular the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, which require base stations to operate without external power for 10 hours. However, achieving this goal depends on: significant technical and logistical issues.

It is not realistic to reach 10 hours in the near future, but we are working to reach 6 hours.
– said Komarov.

The reality is that each base station will require new power supply racks, time and significant resources, Komarov notes.

Given that more than 15,000 such sites need to be updated, the company expects improving energy sustainability to be a long and complex process.