The key facts
- Rada deputy Serhiy Kozyr suggested a scenario in which Kyiv would receive electricity for only two hours a day in winter
- He sees the main threat in a water supply shutdown: pumping stations depend on electricity, and the city has more than 12,000 apartment buildings
- Mayor Vitali Klitschko acknowledged the power supply situation is extremely difficult; heating is connected in about 55% of homes
MP suggests Kyiv may get electricity for only two hours a day in winter
Kyiv risks facing a large-scale utilities crisis in winter, in which electricity in residential buildings would be available for only two hours a day. Verkhovna Rada deputy Serhiy Kozyr, a member of the energy and housing and utilities committee, considers this scenario quite possible; in an interview with the Ukrainian outlet Telegraf, he also assessed the city authorities' preparation for prolonged outages as insufficient.
Water supply as the main threat
The parliamentarian sees the main threat in the shutdown of the water supply with the onset of cold weather: the capital has more than 12,000 apartment buildings, and pumping stations depend on a stable electricity supply. Kozyr asked why municipal facilities have still not been equipped with backup generators, although it is impossible to switch the city entirely to autonomous power. 'And when frosts set in, it will be a collapse of double the scale,' he warned.
The deputy's proposals and grid overload
According to Kozyr, on the left bank of Kyiv, where he lives, there is no visible adequate preparation for prolonged blackouts. He proposed installing portable toilets near residential neighborhoods in advance, arranging the delivery of generators, opening thousands of heating points, and using schools, dormitories and sanatoriums to temporarily house residents. Residents themselves create an additional danger for the power grid: by massively using batteries and inverters, they switch on their equipment for charging simultaneously after power is restored, and, in the deputy's assessment, such overloads have already caused electrical panel fires in stairwells.
Current situation in the city
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko acknowledged an extremely difficult situation with the city's power supply: electricity outages disrupted heating and water supply. The same day, the Russian Defense Ministry announced strikes on the 1,800 MW Trypilska thermal power plant and the 750 kV Kyivska high-voltage substation. DTEK introduced emergency outages in Kyiv region, and local channels reported stoppages on two lines of the capital's metro.
First snow and a lagging heating season
The day before, Kyiv was hit by its first snow amid mass power outages and water supply problems: on November 6 the temperature dropped to 3–5 degrees Celsius above zero, and the bad weather caused serious traffic jams. By that point, heating was supplied to only about 55% of apartment buildings, even though the heating season had begun back on October 16; in social-sector institutions the connection rate exceeded 78%.
