Almost all power generating facilities halted in Ukraine, electricity cut off to most consumers - Energy Ministry

MOSCOW. Nov 23 (Interfax) - Almost all nuclear power plants, and most thermal and hydropower plants in Ukraine were blacked out on Wednesday, which resulted in power outages for most consumers in Ukraine, Ukrainian media reported, citing the Ministry of Energy.

"The power transmission facilities are also affected," the Energy Ministry said in a statement on social media on Wednesday.

This resulted in the blackouts of most consumers across the country, as there are emergency power outages, the ministry said. The lack of electricity could affect the availability of heating and water supply.

As the Ministry of Energy said, the power engineers have already been working and are doing everything possible to restore power supply as soon as possible, but warned that given the scale of the destruction, it will take some time.

Ukrainian media also reported, citing the website of Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, that 80% of Kiev residents were left without electricity and water supply.

"Critical infrastructure facilities have been damaged. In this regard, 80% of consumers in the capital are currently left without power supply. Approximately the same number of Kiev residents are left without water supply. All the public utilities are working to restore both electricity and water supply to Kiev residents as quickly as possible," Klitschko said on the Radio Liberty radio station.

The Ukrainian energy system will be restored within hours, not days or months, Kirill Timoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said in a Joint News telethon on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian media reports.

According to the deputy head of the Presidential Office, at the first stage, the main task for the energy engineers is to restore the integral operation of the Ukrainian unified energy system.

"This is the main task now and I think that our power engineers will cope with this task and there is an understanding that we will be able to repair the power system," Timoshenko said.

He refrained from specifying deadlines for restoring certain power infrastructure facilities.

"I would not like to talk about the timeframe for each specific location, I think that the first thing is the connection into a unified energy system: as soon as this is done, cities, towns and villages will immediately begin to be supplied with electricity," the deputy head of the Presidential Office said.