The state of Ukraine's energy system will temporarily improve after an additional unit of a nuclear power station starts to operate, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of Ukraine's state grid operator Ukrenergo, told Ukrainska Pravda on June 6.
A recent uptick in Russian strikes put a heavy strain on Ukraine's power grid, with several power plants being destroyed or disabled.
Due to resulting power deficits, Ukraine began implementing rolling shutdowns on May 15. The blackouts last from four to eight hours on average and could be carried out up to three times per day.
Ukrenergo expects that another nuclear power plant unit will be launched overnight on June 8 after its repair. The improvement will be temporary and last for two weeks, as the heat in July will affect the load of Ukraine's energy system, Kudrytskyi said.
The scheduled blackouts will not disappear after the launch of the additional unit but will become "more relaxed." It will also be easier for local authorities to comply with energy limits in oblasts, he added.
Kudrytskyi did not specify which Ukrainian nuclear power station unit is undergoing repair. Ukraine has four nuclear power stations in Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. The latter one has been occupied by Russian forces since March 2022.
Since the start of 2024, Russia has launched six large-scale attacks against Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Russia carried out the last large-scale attack overnight on June 1, damaging energy infrastructure in various regions across the country.
An attack in April destroyed the Trypillia Thermal Power Plant, the main electricity supplier to Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Cherkasy oblasts.
Russian strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure have cost the state over $1 billion in damage, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said in May.
Chris York
(Updated: )
