The Kyiv metro was temporarily shut down on Saturday, January 31st, the operator said, after external power supplies were cut off.
On Saturday, Ukraine experienced widespread power outages after a “technical failure” caused power lines between Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine to malfunction, according to the Ukrainian energy minister. Denys Shmyhal spoke about a “cascade shutdown” in Ukraine’s power grid this morning. Shmyhal said that the nuclear power plants are operating at reduced capacity following the outage.
The outages also cut off the water supply in Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called the incident an “emergency” and said that restoration work was underway.
Intense Russian bombing has been putting serious pressure on Ukraine’s energy network for weeks, and this winter has been particularly difficult for Kyiv, as the attacks have cut off heating and electricity for millions of people while temperatures remain below freezing.
The metro is used by around 800,000 passengers a day, most of whom rely on it to get to work. The metro network will also serve as a shelter until electricity is restored, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. The city’s 52 metro stations are regularly used as air-raid shelters during missile attacks.
