A large-scale blackout occurred in Ukraine and Moldova

This morning, Ukraine and parts of Moldova were gripped by a major energy crisis. A serious technological disruption occurred in the system of international energy connections, which led to cascading power outages throughout Ukrainian territory and affected neighboring Moldova, reports BAKU.WS with reference to Ukrainian media.

Ukraine's Minister of Energy Denis Shmyhal explained the cause of the incident: "At 10:42 (12:42 Baku time), a technological violation occurred with the simultaneous disconnection of a 400 kV line between the power systems of Romania and Moldova and a 750 kV line between the western and central parts of Ukraine. This led to cascading outages in Ukraine's electrical grid and the triggering of automatic protections at substations."

According to Ukrainian authorities, as a result of the accident, nuclear power plant units were automatically taken out of operation, which significantly worsened the situation. At the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant, one unit was urgently shut down, and the capacity of the second unit was forcibly reduced. Similar measures had to be taken at the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant.

Currently, special emergency shutdown schedules have been introduced in Kyiv, Kyiv region, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, and other regions. The scale of the blackout was so serious that it affected all critical infrastructure of the Ukrainian capital and other cities.

The company "Kyivvodokanal" reported a complete cessation of water supply in all districts of the Ukrainian capital. The Kyiv Metro suspended train traffic - stations are operating exclusively on backup power to ensure the evacuation of passengers. Due to the lack of power for traffic lights, police officers were forced to manually regulate traffic at busy intersections to prevent accidents.

In Moldova, the situation also proved critical. Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban reported that electricity was cut off in all districts of the city, and trolleybus movement stopped. Moldovan authorities confirmed that the cause was "serious problems in the Ukrainian energy system," which led to a voltage drop on the 400 kV Isaccea-Vulcanesti-MGRES line.

Despite the large-scale nature of the accident, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy promises to restore power supply within the next 2-3 hours. Specialists from the company "Ukrenergo" are already working to eliminate the consequences of the technological disruption.

Moldovan authorities reported that all medical and sanitary facilities in the affected regions are connected to backup power generators, and "the operation of hospitals, including intensive care units, is carried out without interruption."