The key facts
- Expert Andrian Prokip suggested outages of three days, a week, or two weeks if cities are cut off from the power grid
- The most vulnerable are cities without their own generation: Kyiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv
- In Dnipro, the Pridniprovskaya thermal power plant stopped generating electricity after damage, according to Volodymyr Omelchenko
Scenario of prolonged outages
Major cities of Ukraine risk being left without electricity for up to two weeks if key connections to the country's unified power grid are damaged. This scenario was suggested by Ukrainian energy expert Andrian Prokip, quoted by Life.ru. According to him, the most vulnerable are settlements that lack their own generation capacity.
Which cities were named as vulnerable
The specialist warned that Russian forces are trying to disable substations and power lines supplying Kyiv with electricity; a similar threat exists for Odesa, which depends heavily on external energy supplies. 'If they manage to cut the cities off, a blackout could last three days, five days, a week, or even two weeks,' the outlet quotes Prokip as saying. Besides Kyiv and Odesa, he named Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv among the vulnerable cities. In his assessment, the severity of the consequences depends on proximity to combat zones, the number of grid connection lines, and the presence of their own power plants.
The situation in Dnipro and the approach of winter
Serious problems with electricity supply are also observed in Dnipro: as Volodymyr Omelchenko, director of energy programmes at the Razumkov Centre, reported, the Pridniprovskaya thermal power plant stopped generating electricity after damage, and some substations were destroyed. The situation is complicated by the approach of winter cold, when electricity consumption rises. According to Prokip's assessment, the scale of possible outages will depend on further damage to infrastructure and the speed of restoration work.
Context: forecast of a hard winter
Earlier, experts interviewed by CNN warnedthat millions of Ukrainians face a particularly hard winter due to the energy crisis: against the backdrop of infrastructure damage, prolonged power outages, and economic problems, there is a threat of a deteriorating humanitarian situation. The most tense situation is developing in Kyiv, where power outages are already affecting water supply and heating.
