Extreme cold leaves towns in Ukraine in the dark

Ukraine's power grid operator said on Tuesday severe winter weather left more than 1,000 towns and villages without electricity in nine regions and urged residents to conserve power as the energy system has been weakened under the conflict.

Electricity consumption was at the highest levels this week as temperatures fell to about — 15 C in many parts of the country, grid operator Ukrenergo said.

"The consumption level continues to grow due to the considerable drop in temperature across the country," the company said, adding that electricity consumption in the morning was already 5.8 percent higher than the day before.

"As of this morning due to bad weather — strong winds, ice — power was cut off in 1,025 settlements."

The weather caused significant damage to distribution networks with strong winds, frost and a thick layer of ice on equipment, which delayed repair works.

Vitaliy Kim, governor of the southern Mykolaiv region where 215 towns and villages have been cut off from electricity, said ice on electricity cables was over 5 centimeters thick.

Ukraine had to import electricity from neighboring Romania and Slovakia to be able to meet the demand.

Ukrenergo said Ukrainian thermal power plants were still recovering from last winter's massive Russian strikes and solar power plants could not work at full capacity due to dense clouds and bad weather.

It also reported more damage to electricity networks in Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson regions, which are near to the front lines and within reach of artillery shelling.

High consumption

Russia is also facing a tough challenge of high electricity consumption, as temperatures in Moscow last week dropped to this winter's lowest.

The Russian government decided to lift duties linked to the rouble-dollar exchange rate on most coal exports, according to a decree published on the government's website.

The export duties — which were introduced on a number of goods in October and had been expected to last until the end of this year — were scrapped for exports of thermal and coking coals, as well as anthracite, the decree showed.

Analysts, cited by Russian newspaper Kommersant daily, said the decision to scrap the duties may help Russian coal producers save between $1.1 billion and $1.5 billion per year.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's attacks have spread to more Russian regions. A woman was killed in Ukrainian shelling of Russia's Kursk region and drones struck a fuel facility in neighboring Oryol region, the two regions' governors said on Tuesday, amid an escalation of cross-border attacks.

At least five drones were shot down over Kursk on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Russian border regions have repeatedly come under fire from Ukraine in recent months. On Dec 30, at least 20 people were killed in a missile strike on Belgorod city, 40 kilometers from Ukraine.

renqi@chinadaily.com.cn