Energy ministry warns of ‘extremely difficult’ situation after Russian shelling

The Ukrainian power system is facing an extremely difficult situation after Russia’s shelling overnight on Monday, but continues to operate stably, Ukraine’s energy ministry said in a statement.

"Despite the extremely difficult situation after the shelling, the power system is operating stably," it said, adding that no electricity supply restrictions have been applied.

Due to damage to the power grid infrastructure, twenty-four settlements in the Dnipro region were cut off from power as well.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, 246,600 consumers were left without electricity due to shelling and damage to power substations, although the electricity supply is restored to most of them by now.

Two mines in the Donetsk region were cut off from power, residents in ten settlements were left without electricity, and a projectile hit near a power substation, with no personnel injured.

In the Kherson region, 24,500 consumers were cut off from electricity supply due to the shelling, with repair works underway the security situation is appropriate.

"Electricity exports for the current day are 100 MW to Moldova and 100 MW to Poland. No imports are planned for 22 May," the energy ministry added in a statement.

Russia started targeting Ukrainian power plants and other energy infrastructure with missiles in October 2022, which led to widespread rolling blackouts.

Since February, however, there has been no electricity shortage in Ukraine due to a combination of factors, including the load of all nuclear power plants, warm weather, flooding on the Dnipro River, and imports from Europe.