The power restrictions followed requests from the state electricity operator Ukrenergo to reduce consumption and regular multi-hour power outages introduced during the war to preserve remaining electricity supplies. The company stated in a statement on social networks that it is working to restore services, Radio Free Europe reports.
Temperatures are expected to drop to minus 15 degrees Celsius over the weekend, and city officials said they have set up about 1,200 warming centers.
The latest blackouts followed several days of heavy Russian attacks on Ukraine.
Four people were killed and 26 wounded in a massive rocket and drone attack on Kiev on Friday. Twenty residential buildings, including one housing the Qatari embassy, were also damaged in one of the biggest attacks on the capital in months.
The Mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko later confirmed that as a result of the attack, half of all residential buildings in Kyiv were left without heating and called on all citizens to leave the city if they could due to power outages.
Commenting on the recent Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that “Moscow is trying to use the cold weather as a tool of terror.”
The UN Security Council will meet on January 12 to discuss Ukraine. In a letter to the Security Council, Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Andrii Meljnyk said that “the Russian Federation has reached a terrifying new level of war crimes and crimes against humanity with its terror against civilians.”
Russia has denied it is deliberately targeting civilians in Ukraine despite widespread evidence to the contrary since launching an invasion in February 2022.
(Vijesti.ba / Fena)
