By: The Trek News Desk
Ukraine experienced extensive power outages across the country on Saturday after a technical failure affected key international electricity connections, severely disrupting the national power grid and leaving several regions without electricity.
According to Ukraine’s Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, the disruption occurred after a technical malfunction simultaneously shut down a 400-kilovolt power line linking Romania and Moldova and a 750-kilovolt transmission line connecting western and central Ukraine. The incident also impacted neighbouring Moldova, where authorities temporarily shut down parts of the energy system as a precautionary measure.
The power crisis had an immediate effect on public transport in the capital. Kyiv’s metro system was forced to suspend operations for several hours, causing inconvenience to hundreds of thousands of commuters. The metro authority said that train services and escalators were halted due to a loss of electricity from external power supply sources.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed that metro stations would remain open as shelters until electricity is fully restored. The metro system is a critical lifeline for the city, transporting nearly 800,000 passengers daily, and its stations frequently serve as bomb shelters during Russian missile and drone attacks.
The outage comes at a particularly challenging time for Ukraine, which is facing extreme winter conditions while dealing with continued pressure on its energy infrastructure. In recent weeks, attacks on power facilities have caused repeated disruptions to heating, electricity, and water supplies in several regions.
Ukrainian officials have described the current winter as one of the most difficult since the start of the conflict. Meanwhile, Russia has claimed that President Vladimir Putin agreed to a temporary pause in strikes on Kyiv following a request from U.S. President Donald Trump, though the security situation on the ground remains highly fragile.
Source: News Agencies
