“More than 15 hours without power”: Kyiv residents complain about prolonged and chaotic electricity outages

Power outages in Kyiv are turning out to be noticeably longer than indicated in the official schedules.

This is being reported by city residents.

According to one high-rise resident, DTEK’s schedules “first show one thing, and then change 2–3 times a day, and always for the worse.”

As an example, our interlocutor cited his own group: “For group 5.1, that’s minus 1.5 hours of power for no reason at all, and right up against the supposed switch-on time.”

Residents of upper floors and elderly people are facing particular difficulties due to the lack of electricity. One reader said that because of sudden changes to the schedule, many people don’t manage to reach the top floors by elevator in time.

“We have elderly people aged 85 on the 21st floor who are often freezing outside,” the Kyiv resident noted.

By his estimate, after all these manual adjustments, the total comes to more than 15 hours without power per day.

Yaroslav Zheleznyak, an MP from the Holos faction, also expressed dissatisfaction with the outage schedules. On his Telegram channel yesterday, he complained that according to the schedule his power would be cut for 14 hours.

“If things are this bad for us with electricity, just imagine what it’s like right now for Mindich and Shurma,” the politician wrote ironically.

Meanwhile, MP Oleksiy Kucherenko predicted that long power cuts in Kyiv will continue through the winter, stating that the capital will spend more time without electricity than many other regions.

“In Rivne they have a nuclear power plant, but near Kyiv the relevant substation was knocked out, and we can’t draw extra capacity. The capital depends on two nuclear plants: Rivne and Khmelnytskyi. If the transformer substation that’s key for the capital is damaged — and it was hit 30 kilometres from the city — it can’t transmit power. Local units here were hit hard, and the city is in deficit. This winter Kyiv will be sitting (without light). But the schedules may vary. I hope the energy workers will soften them — at least until something hits again,” Kucherenko said.