Poland was on the verge of a massive power outage at the end of December 2025. This was announced by two high-ranking officials — Energy Minister Milosz Motyka and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski.
According to Energy Minister Miloš Motika, in the last week of December, the country’s power grid suffered the most powerful cyberattack in recent years. The attack differed from previous ones: hackers attempted to disrupt digital communications between renewable energy facilities (wind and solar installations) and electricity distribution operators. Despite its unprecedented scale, the attack was successfully repelled, and electricity supplies to the population were not interrupted.
Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski was even more blunt: “We were very close to a blackout. It was Russian sabotage. Digital tanks are already here. Russia tried to leave Polish citizens without electricity at the end of December.”
According to him, one of the large combined heat and power plants and many renewable energy facilities across the country were affected. The situation was significantly complicated by adverse weather conditions, which already placed an increased load on the power grid.
Both ministers directly and indirectly point to Russian special services as the organizers of the attack. Polish authorities note that since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022, the number of cyberattacks on the country’s critical infrastructure has been steadily increasing. In the first three quarters of 2025 alone, there were about 170,000 cyber incidents, a significant portion of which are attributed to Russian actors.
In response to the growing threat, the Polish government is preparing a so-called “anti-blackout package” — a set of measures to strengthen cybersecurity and the resilience of the energy system.
Experts emphasize that modern energy systems with a large amount of distributed generation and digitalization are becoming increasingly vulnerable to such attacks. The December incident in Poland could be one of the most serious warnings for the whole of Europe.