President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the morning technological accident in the power system, which caused problems with electricity supply in a number of regions of Ukraine.
The president announced this in his address on January 31.
“This morning, a technological accident occurred on the network: two lines between Romania and Moldova and on the territory of Ukraine stopped working. The reasons are being investigated in detail. As of now, there is no confirmation of external interference or cyberattack. There is more information that due to weather conditions, the lines froze and automatic shutdowns occurred,” Zelenskyy said.
According to him, the most difficult consequences of the accident were felt by Kyiv and the central regions, in particular Vinnytsia, as well as Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions.
“It is most difficult in Kyiv. There is a significant heating shortage: almost 3.5 thousand houses in different districts are without heat. The city, municipal services, and energy companies promise to improve the heat situation as much as possible by tomorrow morning. But the pace should be faster,” Zelenskyy emphasized.
The President also announced that water supply in the capital should be restored for all consumers: “According to reports, there is water, but we are checking very carefully.”
Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal reported that power companies have restored power supply in all regions of Ukraine after a large-scale system failure that occurred this morning. The regions are gradually returning to the planned power system operation schedules.
What is known about the accident in the Ukrainian power system on January 31
On the morning of January 31, a large-scale technological disruption occurred in Ukraine's power system, causing cascading power outages in a number of regions. As a result, the Kyiv metro was temporarily suspended, and heat and water supply disruptions were recorded in the regions.
According to Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, at 10:42 a.m., a 400 kV power transmission line between the power systems of Romania and Moldova and a 750 kV line between western and central Ukraine were simultaneously disconnected. This led to the activation of automatic protections, the unloading of nuclear power plant units, and the introduction of emergency outage schedules in Kyiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Kharkiv regions. The versions of a cyberattack or external interference have not been confirmed — the cause is initially called the freezing of lines and equipment.
The most difficult situation was in the capital and several regions. In Kyiv, the metro and escalators were stopped due to a power outage, and water and heat supply disruptions were recorded; some systems were switched to backup power. Similar problems arose in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv, and Odessa regions, where emergency or hourly shutdowns were introduced and disruptions in the operation of transport and utilities were recorded.
At 19:40, Denys Shmyhal reported that power workers had restored power supply in all regions. The regions are returning to their planned schedules, high-voltage lines and substations are operating normally. Restoration work continued throughout the day to avoid network overloads and prevent repeated accidents.
Moldova also experienced power problems amid power outages in Ukraine.