Ukraine’s Odesa left without power following major substation accident

The Ukrainian city of Odesa and its neighbourhoods are experiencing a blackout following an accident at a substation of Ukrenerho, the state-owned energy provider, private energy company DTEK said in a statement.

“Energy specialists are working on repairing critical infrastructure. Power supply will be restored once Ukrenerho experts sort out the situation,” the organisation said.

In turn, Ukrenerho noted that a transformer, which was damaged in a Russian missile attack and later repaired, malfunctioned.

“In the last few missile attacks, the enemy was deliberately targeting the Odesa region’s high-voltage infrastructure in an attempt to cause a total blackout. All high-voltage substations in the region were significantly damaged,” the energy provider explained.

The state energy provider also stressed that the scale of the accident was significant, warning about longer periods without electricity ahead. Experts are unable to say when power supply will be restored.

UPDATE
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal commented on the Odesa blackout.

“The situation is complicated, it is a major accident, it is impossible to quickly restore power supply, the critical infrastructure in particular,” he wrote.

The prime minister reported that he had instructed the Energy Ministry to deliver all powerful generators and a 25 MW gas turbine station that Kyiv received from “US partners” to the city. Shmyhal also ordered the Foreign Ministry to appeal to Turkey for additional aid in the form of powerships.

The Russian army regularly launches missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities. The Defence Ministry last reported about large-scale strikes on the Ukrainian critical infrastructure in late January.

“On 26 January, the Russian Armed Forces launched a large-scale missile attack on the energy facilities that ensure operation of Ukraine’s defence industry and transport sector. The goals of the large-scale strike have been achieved. All the assigned targets have been successfully hit,” the ministry said in a statement.