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Ukraine resumes power supplies to Crimea after blackout

Kiev has resumed the electric power supplies but asks to stick to agreements on the amount of the usage of electric power, Ukraine’s newly-appointed minister of energy and coal mining industry said

KIEV, December 24. /TASS/. Kiev has resumed power supplies to Crimea after blackout that lasted for several hours, Ukraine’s newly-appointed minister of energy and coal mining industry, Volodymyr Demchishin said on Wednesday.

“We have resumed the electric power supplies but we ask to stick to agreements on the amount of the usage of electric power,” the minister said, adding that in case of excessive electricity usage the supplies would be limited.

Ukraine has worked out a plan of power cuts in Crimea and also in the zone of the military operation in eastern Ukraine, which has already seen power outage but these measures were not efficient, Demchishin said.

Kiev is now holding negotiations with Russia on the imports of electric power, he said. The sides have already reached an agreement which needs to become legally binding.

Crimea's Minister of Fuel and Energy Sergey Yegorov confirmed to TASS that Ukraine has fully restored Russia’s Crimea energy supplies.

Electric power supply has been restored by 3pm Moscow time (12.00 GMT) on the peninsula in the amount which was delivered from Ukraine usually in the daytime and Crimea receives 650 MW now.

“Electric power supply was restarted for most consumers now,” Yegorov said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov condemned Ukraine’s move to cut the Black Sea peninsula off power as “enemy’s sabotage” which has not stopped.