---
title: "Blackouts, Cheap Imports, and Billions for Replacement: Euroformat CEO on Ukraine's Elevator Crisis"
description: "Euroformat Lifts CEO Igor Tkachenko discussed the crisis in Ukraine's elevator industry, high-rise energy independence challenges during blackouts, and equipment wear risks."
date: 2026-10-01T07:02:00.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/elevator-crisis-ukraine-euroformat
tags: [ukraine, elevators, energy-crisis, blackouts, infrastructure, euroformat]
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# Blackouts, Cheap Imports, and Billions for Replacement: Euroformat CEO on Ukraine's Elevator Crisis

![Elevator maintenance and repair in Ukrainian apartment buildings](https://xab.info/media/2026/10/01/krizis-liftov-ukraina-evroformat/krizis-liftov-ukraina-evroformat-1.webp)

## 🎯 Key Points

- Ukraine has about 90,000 elevators, two-thirds of which have exceeded their standard service life.
- Equipping elevators with backup power requires expensive modernization of control units.
- The 'SvitloDim' state program covers only a fraction of HOA battery installation costs.

Regular power supply interruptions turn daily elevator rides in Ukrainian apartment buildings into a serious endurance test. During large-scale rolling or emergency power outages, dispatch services and repair crews face peak loads, receiving thousands of calls simultaneously. Amid power system capacity deficits, equipping elevators with backup power has become a critical task requiring substantial financial investment.### Production Realities and Outage Season Challenges

Ukraine's elevator equipment market is undergoing a profound transformation amid economic and infrastructure challenges. According to Igor Tkachenko, CEO of the Euroformat Lifts group, the country has only three specialized plants with a total design capacity of about 5,000 elevators per year, but actual production remains significantly lower. Meanwhile, the specifics of state and municipal procurement traditionally lead to major tenders and installation works falling at the end of the year, coinciding with the period of the strictest power supply restrictions.

### Elevator Energy Independence: The Price Tag for Condos

 The issue of modernizing elevators to operate during blackouts rests on the financial capabilities of residents and homeowners associations (HOAs). Installing automatic evacuation systems, inverters, powerful batteries, or generators requires major investments, often amounting to hundreds of thousands or even millions of hryvnias per building. Although the state program 'SvitloDim' partially compensates for energy independence expenses, the allocated funds are often only enough to cover a basic portion of the necessary work, leaving the lion's share of costs to the residents.### Technical Barriers and Import Risks

Mass modernization of the old housing stock is complicated by technological barriers, as a significant portion of elevators in Ukraine are equipped with outdated relay control systems. Integrating backup batteries or uninterruptible power supplies requires a complete replacement of the electronic components in the shaft and cabin. Furthermore, experts point to serious risks associated with the influx of cheap, low-quality imported equipment that may not meet Ukrainian safety standards and cannot withstand voltage surges in domestic power grids.

## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification

- [Обесточивания, дешевый импорт и 140 миллиардов на замену: CEO "Евроформата" о кризисе лифтов в Украине](https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/znestrumlennya-desheviy-import-ta-140-milyardiv-1790762893.html) - Оригинальное интервью с Игорем Ткаченко на РБК-Украина.
- [Производитель лифтового оборудования: "В Украине нужно заменить две трети лифтов"](https://biz.liga.net/all/all/interview/proizvoditel-liftovogo-oborudovaniya-v-ukraine-nuzhno-zamenit-dve-treti-liftov) - Подтверждает статистику износа лифтового фонда Украины.

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