KYIV: Ukraine urged residents to avoid wasting electrical energy Thursday (Dec 7) after an influence plant close to the entrance line was hit by shelling, the primary such warning this winter as temperatures plunge under freezing.
Officers had warned for months Russia was planning to step up strikes on vitality infrastructure after assaults on the ability grid final yr led to widespread blackouts.
“This afternoon, the enemy attacked one of many thermal energy vegetation within the front-line zone. The tools was critically broken because of shelling,” the vitality ministry mentioned.
It didn’t say which plant was affected however mentioned that two of its energy items had stopped working, resulting in a “non permanent scarcity of electrical energy” within the grid.
“The vitality ministry appeals to customers to assist energy engineers by consuming electrical energy fairly and economically, particularly throughout peak load hours,” it mentioned.
Decrease temperatures, emergency repairs and a scarcity of solar energy have additionally contributed to shortages, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal mentioned in a social media publish.
“The federal government and energy business are actually calling on everybody to cut back electrical energy consumption. Particularly from 9:00am to 7:00pm,” he added.
Kyiv has been asking Western nations to bolster its air defence techniques to fend off the strikes, which left thousands and thousands at midnight final yr.
It warned in November that it couldn’t produce sufficient energy to satisfy the demand for heating, and has needed to depend on neighbouring EU nations for electrical energy imports.
