Kyiv has ordered the country's biggest power company to cut electricity supplies for six hours every day because of the fighting on the outskirts of Ukraine's capital. The decision follows an availability notice from Ukrenergo, which said it would have to shut down a third of its coal-fired power stations and cut supplies by 300 GWh/day. Low water levels at one hydroelectric dam and damage to some other infrastructure also mean less hydroelectric power is available. At least 30 people have been killed in recent days, with around 300 wounded, as Ukrainian troops battled pro-Russian separatists in eastern regions. A ceasefire was agreed upon on Friday morning, but sporadic clashes continue.
Moreover, the scale of the cuts will make life difficult for those in the capital. They include a reduction in running water at two public baths and some 20 municipal and state companies that use electricity for heating, cooling, and lighting. The supply cuts will not affect Ukrenergo's customers, who are privately owned and are vastly in the eastern industrial regions near the Russian border.
Ukrenergo said it had been forced to shut down two-thirds of its coal-fired power stations because they were using more coal than usual because of unusually high temperatures. "We can't supply them with electricity because there's no coal," Ukrenergo director Andriy Kobolev told Reuters before the cuts were ordered. The energy ministry said Ukraine should reserve at least 5 gigawatt hours of electricity a day for the capital. It further asked Ukraine's gas company, half owned by Russia's Gazprom, to guarantee it would supply enough gas to keep power plants going.
In addition, the city council said that the capital was getting ready for rolling power outages and asked people to use electricity as little as possible. "We are re-organizing our activities and will start paying more attention to saving water and electricity," Vitaly Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion who is now the mayor of Kyiv, told reporters. He blamed Ukraine's national leaders for not doing enough to solve problems with the electricity supply. The national energy company, Ukrenergo, said supplies were expected to be back to normal on Monday.
However, the local government in Kyiv said its approach would be "new”, and it may take weeks before supplies return to normal. In the meantime, commercial businesses have been warned that they could face blackouts if they use too much electricity. The decision by Ukrenergo to order such a large scale of cuts was unusual for a country at peace. In 2008 and 2009, Ukraine's then-president was forced by Russia to cut power supplies during a gas dispute over prices.
From the side of the Russian Leader
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the explosion an "act of terrorism." The bridge represents his initiative to annexe large portions of Ukraine to Russia.
Pavlo, who works at a power plant, told AFP, "This is the first time we've seen such destruction." Two missiles were fired at the unnamed plant, which was then attacked by an Iranian "kamikaze" drone.
Even though the broken equipment is unique and hard to replace, he said that repairs have been going on for more than two weeks.
Additional developments
The number of 300,000 reservists set by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was said to have been reached by Russia. He said that 41,000 of those called had already been sent to the Ukrainian front lines.
Before a clash with Ukrainian forces over the strategically important city in the south, Russia announced the completion of an operation to relocate thousands of people from Kherson.
In Kherson, President Zelensky said that Russia was tearing down hospitals, taking away "equipment, ambulances, just everything," and forcing doctors to move there.
Then, Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya and a close friend of Putin, said that a Chechen unit had suffered "huge losses," including 23 men killed and 58 wounded in a Ukrainian artillery attack.
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