Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and it is being updated.
Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal reported “a cascade shutdown” in Ukraine’s power grid in the morning on Jan. 31, following disruptions to transmission lines between Romania and Moldova, as well as between western and central Ukraine.
Shmyhal said that the nuclear power plants are operating at reduced capacity following the outage.
Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator, Ukrenergo, said at around 2 p.m. local time that emergency blackouts were in place in Kyiv and the surrounding region, as well as Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Zhytomyr, and Kharkiv oblasts.
“The power deficit in the energy system remains very high,” Ukrenergo wrote in a statement.
“Emergency restoration work is already underway. The top priority for energy workers is to restore power to critical infrastructure.”
A systemic failure in the energy system led to power outages widely across Ukraine, but the reasons are unclear for now, sources in an energy company and the Cabinet of Ministers told Ukrainian media outlet Ekonomichna Pravda.
In Kyiv, residents are experiencing energy, heating, and water outages following the incident amid freezing temperatures.
The incident follows Russia’s months-long campaign targeting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, which has inflicted severe damage to the system.
The Kyiv military administration reported at 11 a.m. local time that the metro was temporarily suspended due to the power outage.
Kateryna Maliuha, a 27-year-old dance teacher, was in the metro when the power went off around 11.m.
“We were underground with other passengers for about two hours before being rescued. There was no panic. Everything was quite organized. We were led out, and no one was lost,” Maliuha told the Kyiv Independent.
“But everyone is in shock, of course. There is almost no cellular network now. I am thinking about how to get home.”
Water supply has also been cut off across Kyiv due to the power supply disruption, the water utility company Kyivvodokanal reported on Jan. 31.
Kyivvodokanal said that its specialists are working with energy workers to restore the water supply to the capital’s residents as soon as possible.
“We will provide further updates on the situation and the timing of service restoration,” Kyivvodokanal said in its statement.
DTEK also reported emergency power cuts in southern Odesa Oblast and central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “all necessary measures” have been taken to restore Ukraine’s power grid and stabilize the situation in the near future.
Ukrainian Railways, also known as Ukrzaliznytsia, reported that the power situation on the railway had stabilized as of 12 p.m., noting that energy supply has been restored to services in almost all regions and trains are running with minimal delays.
The company also said that Kyiv City Express rail service in the capital has resumed operations.
Moldova’s involvement
Moldova’s Energy Ministry wrote on Facebook that the voltage on the 400 kV Isaccea–Vulcanesti–MGRES line had dropped at around 11 a.m. local time, disrupting the country’s electrical system.
The ministry said the drop was caused by the Ukrainian energy system facing “serious problems,” adding that Moldova’s state-owned transmission system operator, Moldelectrica, has already restored power supply in some locations.
Oleksandr Kharchenko, managing director of the Energy Industry Research Center, told the Kyiv Independent that the technical accident “started between Moldova and Romania.”
“But of course, damage to Ukraine’s energy system makes the situation complicated. Now it has been resolved,” Kharchenko said.
“Everyone at Ukrenergo and in the distribution companies is working to restore the full power supply [as much as there is] available to consumers after these terror attacks by Russia.”
Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban reported power outages in most of the capital at around 11 a.m. local time, adding that trolleybuses are not running in “many areas.” A local resident told the Kyiv Independent that the electricity was cut in Chisinau at around 7 a.m. local time.
The State Customs Service of Ukraine reported around 1 p.m. local time that the Ukrainian-Moldovan border is temporarily closed to vehicles and goods due to what it described as a “failure of the central databases” on the part of Moldovan customs authorities. It did not specify when the border would reopen.
