Energy crisis deepens in Ukraine amid scorching heatwave

In Ukraine, restrictions on electricity supplies have intensified due to several days of ongoing heatwaves. On Friday, up to 70 percent of consumers will experience outages for most of the day, according to the state-owned company Ukrenerho. Last night, Ukraine received emergency power from Poland, since Ukrainian power plants have been severely affected by Russian bombings.

According to Ukrenerho, on Friday, energy companies will shut down four lines simultaneously from 7 AM to 5 PM Eastern Time rather than from 9 AM to 4 PM as previously announced. This means limiting supplies for 70 percent of consumers in each region.

"From 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time, four rounds of hourly shutdowns will be applied to compensate for the energy shortfall in the system, and three rounds during the remaining hours," the statement noted.

Electricity consumption in Ukraine is currently the highest due to the heat, with a significant energy shortfall in the national grid following Russian missile attacks on energy facilities.

Since the beginning of the year, Russian forces have carried out eight massive attacks on Ukraine's energy system. As a result, the country has lost 12 gigawatts (GW) of production capacity. Experts say this capacity is equal to the summer peak energy consumption in European countries such as the Netherlands, Finland, Slovakia, and the Baltic countries combined.