• Local authorities report power outages in Ukrainian, Moldovan capitals

ISTANBUL

Ukraine and Moldova on Saturday announced mass power outages, including in their respective capitals, as the former battles a state of emergency in its energy sector amid severe winter weather.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said in a statement on Telegram that a “technological disruption” occurred in the country's power system, resulting in the shutdown of the 750 kV power line between Ukraine’s western and central regions and the 400 kV line between the power systems of Romania and Moldova.

Indicating that the failure occurred at 10:42 am local time (0842GMT), Shmyhal said this caused a “cascade of disconnections” in Ukraine’s power grid and the activation of “automatic protections” at substations.

“All necessary response measures at the level of Ukraine’s energy system are in place, and restoration work is ongoing. The task now is to stabilize the situation as soon as possible,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on US social media company X, after receiving reports from Shmyhal and Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko on the situation.

The Ukrainian Energy Ministry said in an earlier statement that emergency power outages have been applied in multiple regions, including Kyiv and Kharkiv, on the instructions of the country’s power grid operator, Ukrenergo, which announced separately that emergency shutdowns are in effect in the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, and Zhytomyr regions as well.

“According to experts' forecasts, power supply will be restored within the next two to three hours,” the ministry further said. It later stated the country's power system is gradually recovering and that efforts are underway to restore power, with the primary task being restoring supplies to critical infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian private energy provider DTEK also declared the implementation of emergency power outages in the Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions on Ukrenergo’s instructions.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed emergency power outages in the Ukrainian capital, saying the city’s metro has stopped operations “due to low voltage in the network” and that underground metro stations can currently operate as shelters.

Shmyhal later announced that power supply to critical infrastructure has been restored in the capital, as well as in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

In neighboring Moldova, the country’s Energy Ministry said on Telegram that a drop in voltage has taken place on the 400 kV Isaccea-Vulcanesti-MGRES line on Saturday morning, causing a “damaged disconnection” of the country’s power system.

Citing “serious problems in the Ukrainian power grid” as the reason for the disconnection, the ministry said power transmission system operator Moldelectrica is working to remedy the situation, adding that voltage has already been restored in some localities.

Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban said power outages have occurred in most of the Moldovan capital, while Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu urged citizens to "remain in solidarity" and "trust that the institutions are working to quickly resolve the problem" in a statement on US social media company Facebook.

The ministry later stated that all 110 kV power lines in southern Moldova have been reconnected, while the remaining parts of the country, including Chisinau, are being gradually reconnected.

The outages come as Ukraine faces a state of emergency declared in its energy sector earlier this month due to extreme weather and Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.

On Thursday, the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center said temperatures in the Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Kharkiv regions are expected to fall to minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit) on Feb. 1-3.

The center added that, with the exception of southern Ukraine and the Zakarpattia region, temperatures across other regions of the country are expected to drop to between minus 20 and 27 degrees Celsius (minus 4 to 16 degrees Fahrenheit) during the same period.