Ukraine forced to power outage after Russian attacks on power grid

Energy shutdowns will be introduced for households and industrial consumers throughout Ukraine from 6 p.m. until midnight (local time) on May 20. The shutdowns started on May 15.

The outage was caused by recent Russian strikes, which heavily affected Ukraine’s power grid and destroyed several power plants.

"The problem is not that electricity cannot be supplied to any region, but that the combined capacity of power plants is not enough to cover consumption, and imports are not enough to cover the deficit. Each region bears the burden of blackouts in solidarity," explains Volodymye Kudrytskyi, the head of the Ukrenergo company, the state-owned energy operator.

The shutdowns won’t apply to critical infrastructure. Unkrenergo claims to distribute energy evenly throughout residential buildings and other facilities.

According to The Kyiv Independent, "two thermal power plants were destroyed in March and April during large-scale Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. " 

The Ukrainian government is working on restoring the crucial power plants in Kharkiv Oblast and Kyiv Oblast. " 

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, "The government allocated over Hr 1.5 billion ($38 million) to restore the Zmiiv thermal power plant (TPP) in Kharkiv Oblast and the Trypillia TPP in Kyiv Oblast destroyed by Russian attacks,".

Source: The Kyiv Independent