Islam Times – A major power outage has affected multiple cities across Ukraine, as well as parts of neighboring Moldova, after a cascading failure disrupted key electricity transmission lines, according to local officials.Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal said the incident began around 11 AM on Saturday, when a “technological failure” caused the simultaneous shutdown of two critical lines: a 400-kilovolt line connecting the energy systems of Romania and Moldova, and a 750-kilovolt line linking western and central Ukraine.
The loss of these connections activated automatic protection systems, triggering a chain reaction across Ukraine’s national power grid. Shmigal said authorities began unloading units at nuclear power plants—a measure typically used during large-scale emergencies—to stabilize the system and redirect power flows.
He added that “special emergency shutdown schedules” were implemented in Kiev and the surrounding area, as well as in Zhytomyr and Kharkov Region, noting that electricity was expected to be restored within hours.
Metro services in both Kiev and Kharkov were suspended. Videos from Kiev showed subway stations largely darkened during the outage.
In the capital, the municipal water utility reported that water supplies were cut across all districts, as electricity outages halted sewage and pumping systems. Crews were dispatched to restore power and resume operations.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said electricity would likely be restored within two to three hours. However, Sergey Nagornyak, a member of the parliamentary committee on energy, housing, and public utilities, cautioned that full restoration could take between 24 and 36 hours.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said he had been briefed on the situation and emphasized that the priority was to stabilize the system as quickly as possible.
The blackout also extended into Moldova, where officials said disruptions in Ukraine’s energy grid caused a sharp voltage drop on cross-border transmission lines. Parts of the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, along with several other regions, lost electricity. Local media shared footage showing trolley buses lined up and immobilized due to the outage.
Ukraine’s power infrastructure has been heavily weakened by repeated Russian strikes on energy facilities. The strain has been intensified by severe winter weather, with temperatures in some regions falling below -10 C.
Moscow has said its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure are retaliatory, citing Kiev’s strikes deep inside Russian territory, including attacks on critical infrastructure and civilian targets.