Unprecedented” power cuts will be introduced in the region surrounding Ukraine’s capital Kyiv due to damage caused by Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, the local energy operator said on Saturday. A barrage of Russian strikes on Ukraine’s en-ergy grid over the past two weeks has destroyed at least a third of the country’s power facilities ahead of winter.
Authorities have called on Ukrainians to reduce their electricity consumption as much as possible and has introduced scheduled power cuts lasting hours several regions including the capital. “In order to prevent a complete blackout of the capital and central regions of Ukraine, the state energy company Ukrenergo is introducing unprece-dented emergency restrictions,” energy company DTEK said on Facebook. Ukraine’s energy system has “suffered new dam-age” and there is a “power deficit equal to 30 per cent of consumption” in Kyiv, it said.
“More severe and longer blackouts will be im-plemented in the coming days,” the company added. It quoted the Kyiv region governor Oleksyi Kuleba as saying there might be power cuts “for an indefinite period”.
“The situation remains tense and it is unfortu-nately too early to talk about the stabilisation of the system,” Kuleba said on social media.
Meanwhile, the United States announced on Friday that it would provide a new $275 million military assistance package for Ukraine to help it battle Russia’s invasion.
The package includes ammunition for Himars precision rocket launchers, various types of 155mm artillery rounds, anti-armor systems, small arms ammunition and four satellite communications an-tennas, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists.—AFP
