Another wave of Russian missile strikes knocked out power in several parts of Ukraine on Thursday, and crews across the country raced to restore power as the New Year holiday loomed.
Ukraine’s energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, said Kiev in north-central Ukraine and Odessa in south-central Ukraine were experiencing emergency blackouts — when power was shut down protectively to reduce damaging short circuits in the grid — after infrastructure was damaged in the barrages.
“Today, the enemy carried out another massive attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” Khalushenko said in a Facebook post. “Unfortunately, there has been some damage to power generation facilities and the grid. As of 11:00, the situation in the western part of the country, Odessa and Kyiv regions is critical.”
Forty percent of Kyiv residents are without power, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Thursday, adding that this was due to safety measures taken by electrical engineers during the air raid siren, who are now working to restore service. “The city is supplying heat and water in normal mode,” Klitschko said on the messaging platform Telegram.
Authorities in Odessa, southern Ukraine, said an emergency power outage had been imposed during the missile attack. “They were introduced due to the threat of missile strikes to avoid significant damage should the enemy manage to strike energy facilities,” utility DTEK said in a statement.
In western Ukraine, Lviv Mayor Andrey Sadovy said 90 percent of the city was without electricity and warned that the city’s waterworks could also stop working.