Electricity situation in Kyiv currently under control but worst-case scenario is considered

The impact of the war in Ukraine on local energy infrastructure continues to increase and has now reached the point where Kyiv’s mayor considers a worst-case scenario of a total blackout in the capital and all residents being forced to evacuate.

Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko warned of this possibility on Ukrainian television over the weekend, saying that city authorities are doing everything they can to prevent this from happening. He asked residents to be prepared to react quickly.

However, Roman Tkachuk, chief of the Municipal Security Department at the Kyiv City State Administration, was quoted by Ukrinform as pointing out that while city officials are getting ready for all possible scenarios this does not mean they are preparing to launch an evacuation now.

In his regular nightly address on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russia plans to repeat its mass attacks on the country’s infrastructure, specifically on energy facilities.

“As of this evening [November 6], stabilization blackouts continue in Kyiv and six regions. More than 4.5 million consumers are without electricity. Most of them are now in Kyiv and the Kyiv region. It’s really difficult,” he stated.

On Thursday, the CEO of Ukrainian energy group DTEK, Maxim Timchenko, said in his online briefing that as of November 3, about 40% of the country’s energy infrastructure was seriously damaged by Russian attacks.

Meanwhile, Russian media reported that the dam at the Kakhovka hydropower plant (HPP) on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine was struck by the Ukrainian armed forces. Thus, the two countries continue to accuse each other of planning to breach the dam.

Russian state-owned news agency TASS today quoted Kirill Stremousov, Deputy Governor of the region, as saying that the facility is currently stable.

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