On the evening of March 23, emergency power outages were enacted in Kyiv and its surrounding regions, as reported by the DTEK group. The company did not specify the reasons for these outages, which are not governed by the usual schedules.
Since the onset of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russian forces have targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Following the start of the autumn season in 2025, these attacks on energy facilities intensified.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko announced on February 25 that he had submitted documentation to the International Criminal Court regarding Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure from July 2025 to February 2026.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has classified these attacks as crimes against humanity. According to the SBU, at least 256 aerial assaults by Russia on energy facilities and heating systems in Ukraine have been documented since the beginning of the current heating season.
In early February 2026, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that Russia had not initiated attacks on civilian infrastructure, asserting instead that Ukraine had first targeted Russian energy facilities.
As of January 2026, the United Nations reported that Ukraine had lost over half of its electricity generation capacity due to occupation and damage from attacks, leaving only 11 GW of generation capacity, significantly below the required 18 GW during peak winter consumption. This gap between generation capacity and consumption needs has resulted in prolonged power outages.
Emergency power outages have been implemented in Kyiv amidst ongoing attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. The situation reflects a significant decline in electricity generation capacity due to the conflict, leading to critical supply shortages.