Ukraine's energy situation improving, state grid operator says

After a "very difficult couple of weeks" due to record-breaking heat and power plants being under repair, Ukraine's energy supply situation is improving, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of state grid operator Ukrenergo, said on July 26.

Ukraine began implementing rolling blackouts on May 15, following Russia's spring campaign of strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

The deficit in the energy system intensified in mid-July, when a heatwave pushed electricity consumption in the country to its maximum level. "We have every reason to expect that the most difficult period of the summer is behind us," Kudrytskyi said at a briefing.

Cooler weather has led to a fall in energy consumption, while certain power plants have completed their repairs.

"Instead of a complex scheme of three to four groups, we have one to two, which will be applied depending on the time," Kudrytskyi said, referring to the groups that addresses are sorted into during rolling blackouts.  

Kudrytskyi said the situation would continue to improve "if there were no new large-scale damages to power plants."

MP confirms equipment damage at nuclear power plant

Reports emerged on July 18 that two transformers had burned down days earlier, leading to one of the reactors being disconnected from the energy network.

The Kyiv IndependentElsa Court