Shmyhal explains the cause of the accident in the power grid
Photo: Depositphotos

Minister of Energy Denis Shmyhal explained that the blackout that occurred on the morning of Saturday, January 31, in Ukraine and Moldova was caused by a technological failure.

"Today at 10:42 a.m., a technological disruption occurred with the simultaneous disconnection of the 400 kV line between the power systems of Romania and Moldova and the 750 kV line between the western and central parts of Ukraine." wrote Shmyhal on Telegram.

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According to the minister, this violation caused a cascading blackout in Ukraine's power grid and tripped automatic protection at substations.

The units of nuclear power plants were unloaded.

"Ukrenergo power engineers are working to restore power supply. The power will be restored within the next few hours," Shmyhal said.

ADDED at 13:07. Member of the Rada Committee on Energy and Housing and Communal Services Serhiy Nagornyak believes it will take much more time to stabilize the power system and restore full NPP generation.

He explained that due to a decrease in frequency in the power grid, automation at the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant was triggered and three nuclear units were unloaded. The emergency system also operated at the Khmelnytsky NPP.

It takes time to ramp up the power units. According to Mr. Nagornyak, this will take 24 to 36 hours.

According to the former head of Ukrenergo, Vladimir Kudrytsky, the current failure in the power system “is not a national blackout like in November 2022.”

“Such cases have occurred several times since 2022. The causes can only be reliably established after a proper technical analysis, which takes time,” said Kudrytsky.

The Ministry of Digital Transformation rejected the version that the failure was caused by a cyberattack, which had been spread by some media outlets.

“The emergency in the power system was not caused by a cyberattack,” the ministry said.

  • Due to the large-scale power outage, subways were shut down in Kyiv and Kharkiv, and water supply was completely stopped in the capital and in Vinnytsia.
  • In Moldova, Chisinau and parts of the country were without electricity. There were also problems with mobile communications.