It is reported that the main reason for emergency power outages in most regions of Ukraine was the consequences of massive missile and drone attacks by the aggressor country of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian power plants and substations of electricity transmission and distribution systems.
“The energy system is still recovering from the blows. This morning the situation became more complicated because, unfortunately, several generation facilities went into emergency repair,” Ukrenergo explained.
As the NEC emphasized, due to damage and destruction, the surviving power units are under enormous overload to provide the country with light and require shutdown for repairs.
In order to maintain balance in the power system and prevent uncontrolled blackouts that threaten long-term failure of high-voltage equipment, dispatchers had to resort to emergency measures and apply emergency shutdowns, Ukrenergo said.
“We expect that restoration work at individual facilities will be completed in the near future, which will allow emergency restrictions to be lifted and a return to planned hourly outage schedules in most regions,” the statement says.
The NEC called on Ukrainians to consume electricity “as rationally as possible.”
Context
Since the beginning of the heating season, the Russian Federation has attacked Ukraine’s energy sector 256 times, the SBU reported on January 15. In particular, since the beginning of October 2025, the occupiers have deliberately fired at 11 Ukrainian hydroelectric power plants and 45 largest thermal power plants. The Russians also carried out 49 targeted air strikes on thermal power plants and 151 on electrical substations in different regions of Ukraine.
Thus, on the night of January 20, the Russian Federation once again massively attacked Kyiv, as a result of which interruptions in electricity and water supply began on the left bank of the capital, more than 5 thousand houses were left without heat.
Kyiv's energy system is in deep emergency mode, DTEK reported on January 21.
Due to the consequences of Russian shelling and winter cold, emergency power outages began to be used in Ukraine. A state of emergency has been introduced in the Ukrainian energy sector.
On January 23, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said in an evening video message (published on the OP’s Facebook) that the situation in the energy sector “remains very difficult,” especially in Kyiv and the region, Dnepropetrovsk region, Kharkov and region, Zaporozhye, Sumy and Chernigov regions, as well as in Odessa.
