Power crews have restored electricity in all regions of Ukraine following a system-wide failure, First Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Saturday evening, January 31. “All regions are returning to planned schedules, high-voltage lines and substations are operating normally. Energy workers acted as quickly as possible,” he wrote on Telegram.
Shmyhal said two incidents on high-voltage lines occurred a minute apart on Saturday morning, triggering cascading outages across seven regions of Ukraine. “Versions of a cyberattack or external interference have not been confirmed. Preliminary assessments indicate this happened due to icing on lines and equipment,” the minister said.
Shmyhal added the most difficult situation was in the north, central Ukraine and the Odesa region. “In Kyiv, 64 crews are working to restore power. Some 220 teams are already working to resume heating. Work will not stop after dark to bring heat and light back as soon as possible,” Shmyhal wrote.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address that nearly 3,500 buildings in various districts of Kyiv remain without heating. “The city, utilities and energy workers promise to fix the heating situation as much as possible by tomorrow morning. But the pace must be faster,” he emphasized.
According to Ukrenergo, the situation in Ukraine’s power system is gradually stabilizing. “Almost all nuclear power plant units that were forcibly ramped down as a result of the morning system accident have already reached their nominal capacity. The process of bringing NPPs back to full load continues,” the company said on Telegram. On Sunday, February 1, hourly rolling power outages and capacity limits for industry will be in effect throughout the day across all regions.
On the morning of January 31, emergency shutdowns were introduced in many regions due to a major grid failure. In addition to power cuts, there were water supply issues, and the metro temporarily halted service. The electricity problems also affected neighboring Moldova, where electric public transport stopped operating.
