KYIV - Ukrainian officials are optimistic that rolling power outages will not be necessary around the New Year holidays as crews work to repair the country’s power grid, whichAlthough the grid remains fragile and many Ukrainians still lack reliable power, officials have noted improvements in recent days.
The country’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said this week that in the absence of more Russian shelling, there would not be a need for emergency power shutdowns over New Year this weekend, according to a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app.Mr Shmyhal also said that crews had been repairing some of the country’s critical infrastructure, including two thermal power plant units on Tuesday.
Mr Halushchenko said that although the country’s power deficit is shrinking overall and crews are working around the clock to keep the system going, he is cautious about making any predictions about what might happen in the coming weeks.Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s national energy company, said on Wednesday that restrictions on electricity consumption are still in effect across all regions to deal with power shortages.