KIEV, October 10. /TASS/. Mitigating the impact of the strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities will take several days, Yury Korolchuk, an analyst at the Ukrainian Institute for Strategic Studies said in an interview with the Strana newspaper on Monday. He added that during this period rolling blackouts are possible.

"This is the first strike of such a scale on the Ukrainian energy system. It may take several days to clean up this mess and during this time rolling blackouts are possible, primarily for businesses, in order to provide [electricity] to the population and water utilities," he said.

According to the analyst, now the national railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia is switching some routes from electric traction to diesel traction.

"The danger is that, in addition to strikes on large energy facilities, massive damage has been done to substations," he said.

In turn a source close to Ukraine’s Energy Ministry told the newspaper that "many substations throughout Ukraine have been damaged and many cities and districts are without electricity and water.

Speaking at a meeting with members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on Monday, President Vladimir Putin announced that a massive strike had been conducted on the facilities of military command, energy and communications sectors in Ukraine.