Emergency power cuts applied in Ukraine's Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk regions, capital Kyiv

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Emergency power cuts have been applied in the Ukrainian regions of Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk as well as the capital Kyiv on Wednesday, a private Ukrainian energy company said.

"On Nov. 30, emergency power cuts have been applied in Odesa and Dnipro. Stabilization schedules are not in effect yet," DTEK announced via its official Telegram account early on Wednesday.

The company said it is working to get back to scheduled outages as soon as possible, but "depending on the situation in the power system, the information may change several times a day."​​​​​​​

Late on Tuesday, DTEK said emergency power cuts would be implemented in Kyiv on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Ukraine's sole power grid operator announced that an energy shortage of 30% has been recorded in the country's energy system, caused by the emergency shutdown of several power plants on Monday morning and due to worsening weather conditions which have raised energy consumption levels.

Over the past week, Russian strikes have hit the infrastructure in multiple regions, including Kyiv, with Ukraine's national energy company Ukrenergo, as a response, announcing emergency shutdowns in all regions "to protect power grids from additional technological accidents and support the operation of the power system."​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Since the Moscow-Kyiv war started in February, Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been the target of Russian airstrikes that increased after an explosion on Oct. 8 damaged Russia's key Kerch Bridge connecting the country with the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.