Power Outage in Over 1000 Ukrainian Settlements Due to Harsh Winter

The electricity network operator in Ukraine announced today that severe winter weather has caused power outages in more than 1000 towns and villages across nine regions. Residents are urged to conserve energy after Russian strikes weakened the energy system. Ukrenergo indicated that "consumption levels continue to rise due to the significant drop in temperatures nationwide," adding that "electricity consumption in the morning was already 5.8% higher than the previous day." Additionally, they mentioned that "Ukraine was forced to import electricity from neighboring Romania and Slovakia to meet demand." It was reported that "Ukrainian thermal power plants are still recovering from the massive Russian strikes that occurred last winter, and solar power plants were unable to operate at full capacity due to heavy cloud cover and poor weather conditions."