MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. Ukraine's capital and other major cities across the country could be facing long-term power outages in the near-term - potentially up to two weeks, Andrian Prokip, the Head of the Energy Program at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, stated on Monday.
According to him, the blackouts could be made even worse if Russia carries out additional military strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure facilities.
"Kiev is particularly dependent on electricity supplies, and Odessa doesn't have the means to generate its own [electric power], Dnepropetrovsk is in a risk zone; Chernigov, Sumy and Kharkov are currently in a lower risk zone, but they are facing big problems.
"In such cities, if they are cut off from the power system, the risk is high that blackouts could last three days, five days, a week or even two weeks," he stated in a video address published by the "Strana" Telegram channel.
First Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on energy and utilities Alexey Kucherenko stated earlier that the energy infrastructure in Dnepropetrovsk, Krivoy Rog and Odessa was in extremely poor condition. According to him, cities like Kiev are at risk of large scale blackouts in winter.
Ukrainian energy expert Yury Korolchuk previously announced that during the upcoming winter high-population cities across the country may be without power for up to 20 hours a day.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, the most complicated situation remains in the country’s capital of Kiev, where autonomous municipal electricity power generation was halted. Scheduled power outages have been in effect for several days already in Kiev, but additional shutdowns of the power system are sometimes necessary as well.