On the night of June 2, Russian forces launched a combined missile and drone strike on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing new power outages in the capital and six other regions. This was announced by the transmission system operator “Ukrenergo”.
This is reported by Finway
Extent of Damage and Restoration of Power Supply
“As a result of the shelling, there are new power outages in Kyiv, Kyiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Cherkasy regions as of the morning. Emergency restoration work has already begun wherever security conditions currently allow.”
The company reported that repair crews are already working in those areas where it is possible, trying to promptly restore electricity supply. The situation is complicated by the increase in electricity consumption: on the morning of June 2, this figure was 8.2% higher than the previous day. This was due to worsening weather conditions in the west and southwest of the country, particularly because of cloudiness and rain, which reduced the efficiency of domestic solar power plants and increased the load on the overall power grid.
Recommendations for Consumers and Scale of the Attack
“Ukrenergo” urged citizens to shift the use of high-power electrical appliances to the time of the most efficient operation of industrial solar power plants – from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The company also asks to avoid turning on several high-power devices simultaneously during the evening hours from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM to prevent overloading the grid.
Due to the attack, 140,000 consumers in Kyiv temporarily lost power, and two energy workers were injured. According to the Air Forces, overnight Russia launched 73 missiles and 656 drones at Ukraine, of which 40 missiles and 602 drones were shot down. The most intense strikes were on Kyiv, as well as on Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava region, and other areas.
In turn, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced a so-called “massive strike” on objects of the defense industry, fuel, and transport infrastructure of Ukraine, claiming that “all designated targets were hit.”