Power outages may last up to 18 hours per day in Ukraine in winter - UN mission

This is stated on the UN website.

The report recalls that due to damage to the Ukrainian power grid, blackouts continued, and in the summer, some cities in the country had no electricity for 12 hours or more a day.

Experts of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission predict that in winter, Ukraine may have power outages from 4 to 18 hours a day.

"Living conditions in high-rise buildings are rapidly deteriorating due to power outages. There is no water, heating and lighting are turned off, and telephone and Internet connections are cut off. When the elevators stop working, people with mobility impairments are effectively trapped in their homes," said Danielle Bell, the HRMMU Chief of Mission in Ukraine.

At the same time, they emphasize that 70% of Ukrainian citizens live in cities, and many people live in high-rise buildings.

"This winter will be extremely difficult. People are likely to face regular power outages across the country. Any new attacks that lead to longer outages could have catastrophic consequences," added Bell.

The UN notes that as of June 2024, 73% of Ukrainian thermal power plants were out of commission.

"While in the winter of 2022-2023, the attacks were mainly aimed at electricity transmission facilities, since March 2024, generation facilities have become the main target," the article emphasizes.

• On September 3, Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Research Center, predicted what kind of blackouts Ukraine would face in the event of a warm or cold winter and Russian missile attacks. According to him, restrictions of 10-14 hours a day are inevitable.