Russian Strikes Force New Power Cuts Across Six Ukrainian Regions

Russian attacks on Ukraine's civilian energy infrastructure over the past 24 hours have caused new power outages in six oblasts, the state-owned grid operator Ukrenergo reported on the morning of 26 October. The affected regions are Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy.

Ukrenergo said emergency repair crews have already started work at damaged sites where safety conditions currently allow it.

To avoid overloading equipment that was damaged in earlier bombardments, the operator said restrictions will have to remain in place in a number of oblasts until the end of the day. These include power limitation schedules for industry and hourly outage schedules for all categories of consumers, covering up to 2.5 queues.

Ukrenergo defines a queue as a group of consumers and businesses that together draw a specific amount of megawatts. The Dispatch Centre determines how many queues are needed in each oblast to cover energy deficits. Under a Cabinet resolution, critical infrastructure and eligible industrial companies that import at least 60% of their energy cannot be disconnected.

The operator urged people to use electricity sparingly while the restrictions apply. "Please consume electricity sparingly during the restriction period! Check the official pages of the regional distribution system operator (Oblenergo) for the outage schedule at your address," Ukrenergo said.

Because of the restrictions already in force, consumption has fallen. As of 09:30 on 26 October, it was 5.8% lower than at the same time on the previous working day, Friday 23 October.

On 25 October, the daily consumption peak came in the evening and was 4.8% higher than the peak recorded on the previous Sunday, 18 October. Ukrenergo attributed the rise to a drop in air temperature, which led consumers to turn on electric heaters in the evening hours. The operator asked people to limit the use of high-power appliances between 16:00 and 22:00.

Separately, Russian forces attacked an energy facility in the Kamianets-Podilskyi district of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, and emergency power cuts have been introduced there. Power supply disruptions are also being reported in the Dniprovskyi district of the city of Kherson.