Ukrenergo announces only scheduled power cuts in Ukraine on Tuesday

MOSCOW. Nov 22 (Interfax) - Ukrenergo, the operator of Ukraine's high-voltage power lines, has announced 24-hour scheduled power cuts throughout Ukraine on Tuesday, November 22.

"We are continuing to do all we can to restore stable power supplies. The Ukrainian energy system has not yet recovered completely and cannot yet operate at full capacity," Ukrainian media outlets said on Tuesday, citing Ukrenergo's report on social media.

As reported, Ukrenergo announced only scheduled power cuts on Monday as well, but it had to resort to emergency blackouts in a number of regions, including in Odessa and Kiev, during the day.

Meanwhile, CEO of the Yasno power supplier Sergei Kovalenko said that Ukrainians should be ready to live in conditions of electricity consumption curbs until at least the end of March.

"Despite the adverse weather, power sector workers are doing their best to finish restoring it before the severe cold. And even though the number of blackouts has now decreased, I want everyone to understand that Ukrainians will most likely have to live in conditions of blackouts until at least the end of March," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Kovalenko as saying in social media post.  

During the day on Monday, Ukrenergo, the operator of Ukraine's high-voltage power lines, had to resort to maximum emergency power cuts, which left more than 953,000 consumers without electricity, he said.

If no new damage is inflicted on power infrastructure, then in today's conditions of power generation, power shortages may be spread evenly across the country, Kovalenko said.

"It means that blackouts will be everywhere, but they will be less lengthy," he said.

The previous volume of power supplies may be restored if the power system has a sufficient amount of electricity and can do without consumption curbs in general, Kovalenko said.

Otherwise, the authorities will have to resort both to hourly stabilizing power cuts and emergency blackouts, during which consumers will be left without electricity for very long periods of time, he said.

"One ought to be ready for different scenarios, even the worst ones," he added.

The issue of power supplies in the country also was at the center of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's video address, Ukrainian media said. In particular, Zelensky called on people and businesses to do more to reduce electricity use.

"The systemic damage to our energy sector is so significant that all of our people and businesses should be very frugal and spread consumption by hours of the day," he said.

"Today, our energy sector workers had to apply not only stabilizing blackouts but also unscheduled ones," the president said.

As of Monday evening, "the situation is particularly difficult in Kiev and its region, as well as in the Vinnitsa, Sumy, Ternopol, Cherkassy, Odessa regions and some other cities and districts," he said.