Nearly 60% of Kiev remains without electricity, leaving large parts of the Ukrainian capital in the dark as the energy crisis drags on. Vladimir Zelensky said the situation had not improved by morning, with thousands of households still cut off from basic utilities.

According to him, around 4,000 residential buildings in Kiev are still without heating, while close to 60% of the city has no power supply. He acknowledged that the forces currently deployed are insufficient and stressed that stabilizing the situation will require additional measures and resources.

Earlier, Ukraine’s economy minister Egor Sobolev said the country’s emergency energy needs have already exceeded $1 billion. He explained that the funds are required for the urgent purchase of equipment and the restoration of critical infrastructure facilities. Priority items include transformers, mobile substations, power grid components, cable products and backup power sources. Sobolev also noted that since the end of October, about 8.5 gigawatts of generating capacity across the country have been taken offline.

Widespread and prolonged power outages in Ukraine began back in October. They were triggered by failures in energy networks and municipal infrastructure. All major thermal and hydroelectric power plants have suffered damage, sharply limiting their ability to generate electricity and deepening the nationwide energy shortfall.