Ukrenergo announces series of emergency blackouts in Ukrainian regions

MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) - Ukraine's grid operator Ukrenergo announced late on Monday that it would resort to emergency power outages amid a temporary decline in generation capacity.

"Some power plants won't be able to work at full capacity for some time. Coupled with increasingly frosty weather in the next 24 hours, this will result in greater shortages of electric power in the system. In order to keep the balance between the production and consumption of the resource, a regime of emergency outages will be introduced in all the regions of Ukraine," Ukrainian mass media quoted the company's statement on social media.

Power will first be supplied to critical infrastructure facilities such as hospitals, water utilities, and boiler houses, the company said.

At this point, the situation is difficult but controllable, Ukrenergo said in its statement, emphasizing that the Ukrainian power grid has retained its integrity and continues to work in sync with the grid of continental Europe.

Grid operators warned earlier on Monday of emergency outages in the city of Kiev, as well as the Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Rovno and Ivano-Frankovsk regions. Odessa and the Odessa district, Zhitomir, and the Sumy region are still cut off from power supply. The Poltava, Zaporozhye and Zakarpatye regions are also undergoing emergency blackouts, media reported citing regional grid operators.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said that the Ukrainian power grid retained integrity.

"The national power grid is operating and remains integral. Power facilities have been damaged in the Kiev, Vinnitsa, and Odessa regions. Some regions have been forced to resort to emergency outages in order to keep the balance in the system and avoid accidents," Shmygal said on social media.