Technical failures of two power lines connecting Ukraine, Moldova and Romania have led to a power outage in Ukraine, Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmygal said, quoted by Reuters, BTA reports.
At least three regions and the capital Kiev suffered emergency power outages, Shmygal specified in the “Telegram“ application. He expects the power supply to be restored in the coming hours.
"Today at 10:42 a.m. (local time, also Bulgarian - ed. note) a technical failure occurred, which led to the simultaneous shutdown of a 400-kilovolt line between the energy systems of Romania and Moldova and a 750-kilovolt line between the western and central parts of Ukraine. This caused a cascading shutdown of the power supply in the Ukrainian network and triggered automatic protection mechanisms in the substations. The units of the nuclear power plants were unloaded", Shmygal said.
The minister emphasized that the energy specialists of the state-owned company "Ukrenergo" are working to restore power supply.
In the Ukrainian capital, the movement of metro trains, as well as escalators in metro stations, was temporarily suspended due to a power outage from external power transmission networks, the Kiev City Military Administration announced on "Telegram".
The authorities said that new information would be provided after work was restored.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that metro stations are currently being used as bomb shelters.
"In Kiev, as in many cities in Ukraine, there are emergency power outages. The metro has been stopped due to insufficient voltage in the network. "Underground metro stations can currently be used as bomb shelters (with backup power for the stations)," he wrote on “Telegram“.
Zelensky said he had heard reports from Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko and First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Shmyhal on the emergency energy situation.
"All necessary measures at the level of the Ukrainian power grid are in place and restoration work is being carried out. The task is to stabilize the situation as quickly as possible“, the President of Ukraine emphasized in a post on “Facebook“.