Kyiv, Jan 31 (IANS) A technological failure has caused widespread power outages across Ukraine on Saturday, said Ukrainian authorities.
Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram that the incident occurred at 10:42 a.m. local time (0842 GMT) and involved a simultaneous disconnection of the power lines linking the Romanian and Moldovan power systems, as well as the line between the western and central parts of Ukraine.
The failure triggered a cascading outage in Ukraine’s power grid and the activation of automatic protection systems at substations, Shmyhal said, Xinhua news agency reported. Nuclear power plant units were unloaded, and emergency power outages have been imposed in several regions of Ukraine, he said.
In the capital of Kyiv, metro services were suspended due to low voltage, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said all necessary response measures in Ukraine’s energy system have been put in place while restoration efforts are underway.
Earlier, Zelensky had said that Ukraine is prepared to observe an energy ceasefire with Russia that began overnight on Friday, the Ukrinform news agency reported.
“Ukraine is ready to mirror the restraint from strikes, and today we did not attack Russian energy facilities,” Zelensky said in an evening address.
He added that the US had proposed a one-week pause in attacks on energy infrastructure.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to refrain from attacking the Ukrainian capital and other cities for a week due to the severe cold.
Earlier on Friday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia had agreed to suspend strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities until February 1 following Trump’s request, according to RBC-Ukraine news outlet.
–IANS
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