Kakhovka HPP disaster leaves 20,000 customers without electricity in part of Kherson region controlled by Kiev - Energy Ministry

MOSCOW. June 7 (Interfax) - About 20,000 customers in the part of the Kherson region controlled by Kiev were cut off from electricity because of the disaster at the Kakhovka Hydropower Plant (HPP) as of Wednesday, June 7.

In particular, 129 transformer substations in the city of Kherson were flooded and disabled, Ukrainian media reported with reference to the Energy Ministry on Wednesday.

"The flood has left nearly 20,000 customers without electricity in Kherson and the neighboring localities," it said.

As of Wednesday morning, 129 transformer substations and a pump station of the Kherson Heat and Power Plant were flooded and damaged, while the key facilities of the heat and power plant itself were not exposed to risk for the time being, the ministry said.

Two solar power plants have also been flooded in the Nikolayev region, it said.

A number of customers in the Sumy, Kharkov, and Chernigov regions have also been cut off from power supply.

"Despite all challenges, the country's energy system is operating in a stable manner. There is no shortage of electricity," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom will try to reduce the duration of scheduled maintenance of power units of its nuclear power plants to compensate for a possible decline in power generation by hydropower plants, Energoatom President Pyotr Kotin said.

"Four units are being reloaded now, and we will try to complete maintenance within the shortest possible time. We'll hook them up [to the grid] as long as the reloading is over," Ukrainian media quoted Kotin as saying during a national TV marathon on Wednesday.

Energoatom plans to operate all the nine units of the three nuclear power plants controlled by Ukraine in winter, he said.