Ukraine plagued by power outages across the country
Many Ukrainian cities are still facing electricity, heating and water supply cuts on Sunday after the massive Russian attack on the country’s energy infrastructure that occurred overnight from Friday to Saturday. This was, according to Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Grinchuk, “one of the hardest nights” since the start of the large-scale Russian offensive in February 2022.
“It is difficult to remember such a large number of direct strikes on energy installations”she said on the local United News channel.
The public electricity group Centerenergo warned on Saturday that production capacity was “reduced to zero” After “the most massive strike on [les] thermal power plants » Ukrainian “since the beginning of the invasion”.
“Russia has once again targeted the substations that power the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants [ouest]. These were not accidental attacks, but deliberate attacks”reacted, on X, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrii Sybiha.
Denouncing “unacceptable risks” for nuclear security in Europe, he called for a meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be held as quickly as possible.
On the ground, technicians are working hard on Sunday to restore power. However, electricity will still be cut for between eight and 16 hours a day in most regions of Ukraine due to load shedding, public supplier Ukrenergo said, while it takes time to carry out repairs and deploy alternative energy sources.
As with each wave of strikes, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have targeted “companies of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and the gas and energy facilities that support their operations”.
These Russian strikes, which in previous years had already plunged millions of people into darkness in Ukraine, are raising fears of another harsh winter for civilians.
