“Unprecedented” power cuts will be introduced in the region surrounding Ukraine’s capital Kyiv due to damage caused by Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, the local energy operator said Friday.
A barrage of Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid over the past two weeks has destroyed at least a third of the country’s power facilities ahead of winter.
Authorities have called on Ukrainians to reduce their electricity consumption as much as possible and has introduced scheduled power cuts lasting hours several regions including the capital.
“In order to prevent a complete blackout of the capital and central regions of Ukraine, the state energy company Ukrenergo is introducing unprecedented emergency restrictions,” energy company DTEK said on Facebook.
Ukraine’s energy system has “suffered new damage” and there is a “power deficit equal to 30 percent of consumption” in Kyiv, it said.
“More severe and longer blackouts will be implemented in the coming days,” DTEK added.
It quoted the Kyiv region governor Oleksyi Kuleba as saying there might be power cuts “for an indefinite period”.
“The situation remains tense and it is unfortunately too early to talk about the stabilisation of the system,” Kuleba said on social media on Friday.
