Russian strikes exacerbate Ukraine’s blackout crisis
- Ukraine has experienced severe energy shortages due to Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.
- State power operator Ukrenergo states that electricity consumption limits are in effect in all regions of Ukraine.
- Consumption limits for the day will only fulfill 75 percent of the capital’s power needs.
On Friday, Ukraine experienced severe energy shortages in a week where relentless Russian strikes on energy infrastructure caused parts of the capital Kyiv, and several regions to plunge into darkness.
Crippling attacks on power plants have compelled emergency blackouts to preserve limited electricity supplies and ensure that critical industries and infrastructure can remain online.
“Electricity consumption limits are in effect in all regions of Ukraine throughout the day,” state power operator Ukrenergo said.
The firm stated that it had to implement a three-hour blackout late Thursday in around a dozen regions from Donetsk and Kharkiv on the eastern front lines to Lviv and Zakarpattia, some 1,000 kilometers to the west on the border with the EU. In Kyiv, street lights and buildings were disconnected, and parts of the city were in darkness on Thursday.
Volodymyr Kudrytsky, the chairman of Ukrenergo, stated that it could take “years” for Ukraine to restore its full generating capacity.
“We are dealing with an unprecedented scale of destruction,” he said, adding that the capacity of thermal power plants was at a “historic” low with “virtually no hydroelectric power plant that has not been damaged.”
“It is technically impossible to restore these damaged power plants quickly. It will take time: weeks, often months, sometimes years,” he said in a media interview published on Ukrenergo’s Telegram channel.
Forced by circumstances, Ukraine has had to import emergency supplies of electricity from neighboring Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Moldova.
“However, due to the scale of the damage, these measures are not enough to maintain the balance in the power system,” Ukrenergo said Friday.
On Friday, the Kyiv city administration announced that consumption limits for the day would only fulfill 75 percent of the capital’s power needs. Since its February 2022 invasion, Russia has relentlessly targeted Ukraine’s power grid with cruise missiles and unmanned drones packed with explosives. At times, freezing temperatures have left millions of people in darkness and without heating.
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