Ukraine war: Half a million without power after ‘significant’ accident at electricity substation in Odesa | World News
Half a million people were left without power after a “significant” failure at a substation in Odesa, southern Ukraine.
The Black Sea Port and surrounding areas are in the dark after a large-scale network outage, UkraineUkrenergo’s grid operator reported.
It said the problem involved equipment “repaired multiple times” following Russian attacks on the country’s energy grid and warned residents to prepare themselves for prolonged power outages.
War in Ukraine – according to the latest developments
“Unfortunately, the scale of the accident is quite severe and this time, the power restrictions will last longer. It is not yet known when (power) will be fully restored. completely,” the company said.
Maksym Marchenko, a Ukrainian colonel, wrote on Telegram: “A serious accident occurred at one of the energy facilities of NPC Ukrenergo, causing a fire.
“Because of this, the Odessa region and the city of Odessa are almost completely without power. As of now, almost 500,000 subscribers are without power.”
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said: “The situation is very difficult, the scale of the accident is very large, it is impossible to quickly restore the power supply, especially critical infrastructure.”
He said the substation had previously been damaged several times by Russian missile attacks.
Mr. Shmyhal said the energy minister and national grid executive were on their way to oversee the repairs, while authorities were working to restore power to critical infrastructure and areas. Apartments need electricity to heat the house.
Temperatures in the southern city today are 2 degrees Celsius and are expected to stay below freezing for much of next week.
Please use Chrome browser for more accessible video player
Who is winning the war in Ukraine?
DTEK Odesa Power Grids wrote on Facebook that this is the second “large-scale accident” to occur in the last 24 hours.
Mr. Shmyhal said he ordered the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy to scramble all existing high-capacity generators in warehouses across the country and move them to Odesa within a day.
He also ordered the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to call on Turkey to send trams – ships carrying power plants – to aid the city.
