Ukraine’s biggest private energy company, DTEK, has launched the first stage of a 500-megawatt wind power plant in a boost to the country's energy sector following Russian air strikes.

The Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure caused widespread damage and left millions without electricity and heating over winter. Ukraine is now racing to repair and strengthen the sector before the winter.

"We are here to celebrate the completion of the first stage of the 500-megawatt wind project. We've managed to build 114-megawatt capacity during wartime," Maxim Timchenko, chief executive officer of DTEK, told reporters on May 18 on the site of the Tyligul Wind Farm in the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine.

"We invested more than 200 million euros ($220 million) into this construction and now we are in preparation for the second phase which is an additional 384 megawatts of capacity."

The project will cost 450 million euros, he said.

Once completed, the Tyligul wind farm will be the largest in Ukraine. For now, 19 wind turbines will generate electricity to support Ukraine's energy balance.

DTEK started building the plant in 2021 but construction stopped after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. The plant is less than 100 km (62 miles) from the frontline.

Work resumed in April last year with engineers and workers building 13 wind turbines since then. Six turbines were built before the war.

"This project is very special because it was constructed mostly in times of war," said Henrik Monefeldt, regional head at FairWind, a company involved in the installation of wind turbines at the site.

"It has been strenuous for the guys, it has been interrupted multiple times – air alarms and missiles flying by. But ... they have been so proud working on this for the simple fact that we are helping to supply energy to Ukraine."

DTEK officials said the wind project was a key step forward to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

DTEK also has thermal generation capacity across the country and its plants have suffered from multiple Russian attacks.

DTEK said in a statement it had invested 890 million hryvnias ($24.34 million) to repair thermal power plants in the first four months of the year. It said a total of nearly 7 billion hryvnias would be needed to restore all the equipment damaged and destroyed at thermal power plants.