Ukraine energy minister warns of more power cuts, possible Russian attacks

Feb 5 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s energy minister warned households on Wednesday that planned blackouts could worsen in coming days and Russian forces could launch a new air attack to further disable power and heating networks.

Denys Shmyhal said well over 200 emergency crews were at work in the capital restoring heating to apartment buildings after a series of mass Russian attacks in January. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Tuesday that more than 1,100 buildings remained without heating.

“The situation with energy remains very difficult. There is a risk that timetables for power cuts could get worse,” Shmyhal wrote on Telegram after a daily meeting of senior officials devoted to energy issues.

“This is linked to the last strike and the fact that the shortfalls in generation in the power system are still significant. And the Russians are preparing for new attacks on the energy sector in the coming week.”

Shmyhal said that buildings where restoring heating is likely to take some time were to receive assurances that they will have electricity for 18 hours a day.

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, also writing after the daily meeting, said 217 Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system had been recorded since the beginning of the year. She provided a list of assistance, including hundreds of generators, supplied by European countries and the U.N. Children’s Fund.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said the situation in Kyiv was worse than in other cities and resources were being redirected to the capital, along with additional help to Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.

Zelenskiy on Tuesday said Russia had deployed hundreds of drones and a record number of ballistic missiles in its latest mass attack on Ukraine focusing on energy sites on the eve of three-sided peace talks with Russia and the United States.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleskandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Himani Sarkar)