Up to 12 hours a day without power: which cities in Ukraine will experience prolonged outages?

The energy situation in Ukraine is currently unstable, but it could worsen if temperatures drop to -10 degrees Celsius or lower. In that case, power outages will become more prolonged. However, this applies only to major cities, not all settlements.

On December 7, energy expert and head of the Ukrainian Renewable Energy Association Stanislav Ihnatiev stated this during a broadcast on the "Kyiv 24" channel. According to him, we can expect up to 10-12 hours a day without stable electricity supply in the event of significant cooling. The most vulnerable cities are Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Lviv.

"If the average daily temperatures fall below 10 degrees Celsius, we should anticipate 10-12 hours without stable electricity supply per day. The most vulnerable are large cities such as Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odesa. Lviv is also at risk," said the expert.

The Situation with Electricity in Ukraine

Currently, all regions of Ukraine are implementing hourly schedules for stabilization power outages. The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine plans to change the order of their application. By 2025, all regions may be divided into several zones. Queues in these zones will be switched off simultaneously, which will help organize the outage system.

For instance, one zone may include Odesa, Cherkasy, Lviv, and several other regions selected in a checkerboard pattern to avoid creating large contiguous areas without electricity. Consequently, outages in these zones will occur according to specific queues at the same time. That means if the third queue is turned off for 4 hours during a specific period, this will happen across the entire zone. The same system will apply to other zones.

Informant reported that as early as July, experts warned of predictions that the occupiers would strike at Ukraine's nuclear energy sector before winter, leading to a complete blackout with up to 20 hours of darkness per day. However, Ukrainian nuclear power plants will remain completely exposed. "Energoatom" began signing contracts for protection only at the end of September, which means that defense systems will be far from ready for winter.