Emergency power outages in many regions of Ukraine, metro stopped in Kyiv. Electricity disruptions also occurred in Moldova

On the morning of January 31, emergency power outages began in many regions of Ukraine, including Kyiv, at the command of “Ukrenergo”.

This was reported by local regional energy companies and DTEK.

In particular, emergency outages began in Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zhytomyr, Poltava, Mykolaiv, and Khmelnytskyi regions.

In Kyiv, the metro has stopped due to emergency power outages, and escalators are also not working. “Kyivvodokanal” reported that there is no water throughout the city.

There were also problems with train traffic, but as of 11:55, the situation had stabilized, “Ukrzaliznytsia” reported. The delays from the schedule are minimal, and the carrier promises to make up for them.

In Vinnytsia, the main water supply station stopped working, the entire city is without water. In Sumy, water utility facilities were cut off, and trolleybuses were stopped in the city. In Kharkiv, trams and trolleybuses, as well as part of the metro, were suspended.

Due to the difficult energy situation in Ukraine, power outages have also begun in Moldova. NewsMaker writes that there is no electricity in Chisinau and its suburbs, as well as in the cities of Taraclia, Cahul and Novi Aneni. Due to the mass blackout, traffic lights are not working there, and hospitals in a number of regions have been switched to generators.

UPD at 12:25: The cause of the massive power outages in Ukraine is a technological disruption that simultaneously disconnected the lines connecting the power systems of Romania and Moldova and the western and central parts of Ukraine.

According to Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, this triggered automatic protections at substations in Ukraineʼs power grid, causing cascading outages. The load on nuclear power plant units was also temporarily reduced.

The Ministry of Energy says that the power will be restored in the next 2-3 hours.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has already responded to the situation. He says that all necessary responses are already in place at the level of the Ukrainian energy system, and restoration work is underway.

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