Electricity consumption curbs take effect across Ukraine

ISTANBUL

Ukraine on Sunday introduced countrywide curbs on energy consumption as it continues to grapple with extensive damage to its infrastructure amid the war with Russia.

"In all regions of Ukraine, there is a regime of restriction of electricity consumption," the country's national energy operator Ukrenergo said in a statement, adding that as of 11.00 a.m. (0900GMT), the power deficit in the country's energy system was at 20%.

Ukrenergo further noted that the schemes and schedules of the outages were planned and applied by the regional systems in place.

The statement comes amid the deployment of "Points of Invincibility" across the country to provide basic services during power outages inflicted by Russian strikes, according to a statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy early on Thursday.

In the past week, Russian strikes have hit infrastructure in multiple regions, including the capital Kyiv.

In response to the attacks, Ukrenergo announced emergency shutdowns in all regions "to protect power grids from additional technological accidents and support the operation of the power system."

Zelenskyy also said late on Friday that repair work on energy infrastructure facilities damaged by Russian attacks earlier this week would be a key task.

In an address to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow was launching strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure, as well as other infrastructure, to prevent their use in supplying Ukraine with weapons, "primarily of Western origin."

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia was carrying out strikes against Ukraine's civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been the target of Russian airstrikes since the start of the war in February, stepped up after an explosion damaged the key Kerch Bridge to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.