KYIV, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Ukraine's energy situation "significantly" worsened on Friday after recent Russian air attacks, triggering emergency power outages in most regions, Kyiv's grid operator said.
The grim assessment followed a remark by Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal on Thursday that Ukraine's energy system had endured its most difficult day since a widespread blackout in November 2022, when Russia began bombing the power grid.
In new comments on Friday, Shmyhal said the situation with the grid remained difficult, but he expected things to stabilise somewhat.
Moscow has stepped up air strikes in recent weeks, further damaging battered infrastructure and leaving large numbers of residents without power and heating during a subzero cold snap.
Several power generation facilities are undergoing emergency repairs as a result of the combined drone and missile attacks, Ukrenergo said on the Telegram messaging app.
"The equipment is operating at the limits of its capabilities," it said, adding that power blocks were carrying a "tremendous" overload due to earlier damage from Russian strikes.
Speaking to Reuters on Friday, Maxim Timchenko, CEO of Ukraine's top private energy firm, said the situation was "close to a humanitarian catastrophe" and that any future peace deal between Russia and Ukraine must include a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure.
In his latest comments, Shmyhal said there were significant power shortages, but added: "Thanks to the coordinated actions of Ukrenergo and distribution system operators, we are seeing a trend towards partial stabilisation."
"We plan to gradually switch from emergency shutdowns to hourly ones in the coming days," Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said repair crews were working around the clock to restore heating and power to apartment buildings, disrupted by two major Russian overnight attacks on Kyiv this month. Northern and southeastern Ukraine were also experiencing difficulties.
"Unfortunately, many buildings in the capital are still without heating," he said. "The maximum number of crews and equipment are being deployed to help people."
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators completed the first of two days of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on Friday, part of U.S.-brokered efforts to move toward a resolution to the nearly four-year-old war.
The European Commission said on Friday it would send 447 emergency generators worth 3.7 million euros ($4.3 million) to restore power to hospitals, shelters and critical services, after Zelenskiy declared an energy emergency last week.
In its statement, Ukrenergo said it hoped repairs would be completed in "the near future", which would enable a return to planned outages.
Ukraine's energy grid relies almost entirely on electricity produced by nuclear power plants, and has already lost half of its generating capacity.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; writing by Dan Peleschuk and Anna Pruchnicka; editing by Daniel Flynn, Mark Heinrich, Ron Popeski and David Gregorio)
