Ukraine and neighboring Moldova suffered large-scale power outages on Saturday after a technical problem struck Ukraine’s electricity grid, officials said.
The disruption forced Kyiv to suspend its metro service and affected the capital’s water supply. Many districts of Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, were also left without electricity.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmygal described the incident as a technical malfunction and said the immediate cause was not yet clear. He reported a simultaneous failure of a 400-kilovolt line linking the Romania-Moldova grid and a 750-kilovolt line connecting western and central Ukraine.
At least three Ukrainian regions plus Kyiv were placed on emergency power cuts, Shmygal said, but he expected supplies to be restored within hours.
Kyiv Metro announced that trains and escalators were temporarily suspended because of the external power outage. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Ukraine’s nuclear plants reduced output amid the disruption and that the Chernobyl site briefly lost all off-site power. The UN watchdog added that no direct impact on nuclear safety was expected, while stressing the overall situation remained precarious.
Moldovan officials said voltage fell on one transmission line importing electricity from Ukraine, leaving much of Chisinau in darkness and disrupting traffic lights.
Ukraine’s power system has frequently been affected by attacks during Russia’s invasion, officials noted. The outages occurred after the Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had agreed to pause strikes on Kyiv for a week following a request from U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, who said he had asked for a temporary halt because of extreme cold.