Both industrial and residential electricity usage will be restricted on Monday evening between 6 p.m. and midnight across Ukraine, the country’s energy firm Ukrenergo announced.
Even though the warm weather in recent days has lowered power usage and thus, the power deficit, the situation is said to remain critical.
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“Thanks to warming and sunny weather, the deficit in the power system has decreased somewhat, but in the evening and night hours, the lack of electricity is significant.
“Because of this, today, May 20, for the period from 18:00 to 24:00 in all regions of Ukraine, there are hourly shutdown schedules for industrial and household consumers,” read Ukrenergo’s Telegram announcement.
The energy deficit is caused by Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, it said.
“We will remind you that the application of restrictive measures stems from the consequences of enemy missile attacks on Ukrainian power plants. From March 22 to May 8, the Russians targeted all large thermal and hydroelectric plants five times.
“Due to extensive damage, they cannot produce as much electricity as before the attacks began,” it said, adding that Ukraine has been importing electricity from Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Moldova to help cope with the deficit.
However, the power supply for critical infrastructure should not be affected, according to Ukrenergo’s Facebook announcement made on Sunday evening.
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Ukraine started to reintroduce nationwide energy restrictions in recent weeks following intensified Russian air strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure – enabled by the delay of Western air defense delivery – that has damaged or destroyed power plants and substations across the country.
An exclusive Kyiv Post report illustrates the aftermath of Russian strikes on the Trypillya Thermal Power Plant (TPP) in the Kyiv region in April; In early March this year, the Zmiyivska TPP in the Kharkiv region was also completely destroyed. Additionally, in July 2022, Russian troops occupied the Vuhlehirsk TPP in the Donetsk region.
On May 8, Ukraine announced plans to restrict power usage that evening, and it has since introduced multiple emergency blackouts across the country, including the western regions far from the front line.
On Saturday, Ukrenergo announced planned restrictions for industrial users but not residential users. Nevertheless, blackouts were introduced for both industrial and residential users on Sunday in the Kharkiv and Poltava regions to carry out repair works.
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