The Ukrainian government has cut off the electricity supply to the territories in eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russian-backed militants, state company Ukrenergo’s acting director Vsevolod Kovalchuk announced on July 26.
He said that the occupied territories of Donetsk Oblast as of July 26 are provided with electricity mainly by Starobeshivska and Zuivska power stations, both located in Donetsk Oblast. Russian Federation will also supply power to the region, according to Kremlin.
Pavlo Zhebrivskyi, the governor of the Ukrainian government-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast, on June 19 said on Facebook that the territories in Donetsk Oblast, controlled by the joint Russian-separatists’ forces, owe Ukrenergo Hr 3.9 billion ($150.9 million) in electricity payments.
About two months earlier, on April 25, Kovalchuk said that Ukrenergo had cut power supply to the Russian-occupied areas in Luhansk Oblast. The company’s press-service said then that it hasn’t been receiving payments for the energy, consumed on those territories, for a very long time.
One day after the announcement, Dmitry Peskov, spokesman of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, said that Russia would be supplying electricity to the cut-off Ukraine’s territories.
During the briefing on July 26, Kovalchuk said that Ukrenergo has cut off electricity in the parts of Donetsk Oblast, controlled by the Russia-backed separatists, later than it was done in Luhansk Oblast, because there were several Ukrainian cities, including the heavily-shelled Avdiyivka, that have been receiving energy directly from the occupied areas.
As soon as the new electricity distribution line to the frontline city of Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast, located 700 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, started operating, the cutoff became possible.
According to Kovalchuk, now all the cities of the Donbas parts, controlled by Ukraine’s government, do not depend on power from the Russia-occupied territories anymore.
