RT reported that the Ukrainian government on December 7 requested emergency assistance from Poland, Romania and Slovakia for the freezing temperatures that caused power shortages.
Ukrenergo said that electricity demand increased more than what Ukrenergo could provide, as snow fell in Kiev and temperatures dropped to minus 4 degrees Celsius. The company announced that it would import electricity from neighboring countries of Ukraine.
The message Ukrenergo sent to customers across the country said: "From 11am to 7pm, emergency electricity imports from Slovakia, Romania and Poland will be used to balance the power system".
The company noted that limiting electricity use is not yet planned, but called on Ukrainians to save as much electricity as possible.
Ukraine's power grid was severely damaged last year by airstrikes and missile attacks by Russia in response to the Crimean bridge terrorist attack in early October 2022. Kiev initially denied any involvement in the bombing, but later claimed responsibility.
Russia's missile campaign ended in March. Ukraine announced it had restored the power grid and resumed exports in April, and thanked the West for its help.
However, in June, Ukrenergo Director Vladimir Kudritsky said Ukraine would have to increase electricity production and imports to meet demand before the winter starts.
At the end of November, Ukrenergo rang the warning bell about the "difficult situation" of the power system.
electricity plants cannot produce enough electricity to meet all consumer needs. Solar power plants are almost not operating due to dense clouds across the regions, while coal-fired power plants are still under repair, the company said at the time.
Meanwhile, cold weather has caused EU gas consumption to skyrocket, with gas reserves across the bloc falling by more than 6% in December.
Vedomosti reported that the urgent supply of natural gas at underground storage facilities in Europe is declining due to cold weather, causing EU countries to use more fuel.
According to calculations based on data from the European Gas Infrastructure (GIE), the EU pumped fuel from its reserves four times more in December than the average in November.
According to GIE, in early December, net gas from underground storage facilities in the bloc averaged 563 million cubic meters per day, while in November, the figure was only 157 million cubic meters per day.
EU gas reserves fell 6.3% to 93.3%. Previously, in October, the EU announced that gas reserves had skyrocketed to an all-time high, reaching nearly 98%.
Data shows that renewable energy production such as wind power decreased in December, meeting about 15% of the EU's energy demand.
Meanwhile, Russian energy giant Gazprom continues to supply gas to transport to Western and Central Europe via Ukraine via the only remaining pumping station, Sudzha. About 42.4 million cubic meters per day have been supplied as of early December.
Although the EU's gas inventories are now sufficient, analysts warn that this could change in the winter. Industry observers also said that the EU market will be greatly affected by gas consumption in Asia, as countries in South Asia are expected to become the main driver for the LNG market.
