Zelensky says necessary to ensure predictability of power cuts in Ukraine

MOSCOW. Dec 1 (Interfax) - People should know when and for how long they will be left without electricity, Ukraine's media quoted Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky as saying in an overnight video address.

"I separately held a meeting on energy and communication issues. We see the results of what has already been done to protect our systems. We are preparing new solutions," Zelensky said.

"As of this evening [on November 30], about six million consumers in most regions [of Ukraine] and in Kiev are disconnected from electricity. The situation remains very difficult in the capital, as well as in the Kiev, Vinnitsa, Lvov, Odessa, Khmelnitsky, and Cherkassy regions," the president said.

Meanwhile, emergency power cuts have been announced in Kiev for Thursday, Ukrainian media outlets quoted the DTEK company as saying in a social media post.

"We are still not using stabilizing schedules. We are doing our best to return to scheduled blackouts as soon as possible, but we are working in line with the situation in the energy system," the company said.

The Yasno power supplier's general director Sergei Kovalenko, for his part, said on social media that power consumption curbs in Kiev decreased to 545MW on Wednesday from 560 MW on Tuesday and from 747MW on Monday.

The blackouts on Wednesday affected 953,000 consumers as compared to 958,500 on Tuesday, Kovalenko said, according to Ukrainian media. However, the company is continuing to use emergency power cuts.

"The period of time during which residents of Kiev are left without electricity is becoming shorter. Kiev residents did not have electricity for nine hours on average on Monday, and for less than seven hours a day yesterday," Kovalenko said.

Every populated locality, including the capital, has emergency infrastructure, which must receive power as soon as possible, he said, adding that power supply is restored to such facilities first of all, and they are not subject to emergency blackouts. The list of such infrastructure facilities is compiled by local authorities.

According to data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, there were 35,900 residential buildings of all types in Kiev as of January 1, 2021. There were 11,500 high-rise apartment buildings in Kiev as of the end of 2017, the city's housing infrastructure department said.

As reported, Kiev consumed about 1,500MW of electricity per day before the crisis.