MOSCOW, February. 10 /TASS/. Restrictions on power supply to industrial facilities have been introduced in Ukraine due to damage to the energy system, the country's Energy Ministry reported.
"As a result of damage to energy infrastructure facilities, the transmission system operator is forced to apply power restrictions for industry and business," the ministry said on its Telegram channel.
It was noted that the restrictions would not apply to household consumers, critical infrastructure, and enterprises that import more than 60% of electricity for their needs.
Vladimir Omelchenko, Director of Energy Programs at the Ukrainian Razumkov Center, forecasts a possible transition to planned power cuts for residential consumers. He noted that gas production, which is used in particular to generate electricity, has decreased. "In addition, decline in air temperature is also expected. All this creates certain risks of a possible transition to planned power cuts," RBC-Ukraine agency quoted him as saying.
The last time power cuts were introduced for the country's residential consumers in the Kirovograd, Kharkov, and Cherkasy regions was on February 6.
In the late spring of 2024, Kiev reported that about 80% of thermal power generation and a third of hydropower generation in the country had been destroyed. In May, the country began to introduce restrictions on industrial facilities due to network shortages. However, these measures were not enough, and soon blackouts were regularly imposed on residential consumers across the country. Since the beginning of June 2024, Ukraine has been forced to significantly increase purchases of electricity abroad.