The civilian population in Ukraine is already vulnerable due to the ongoing conflict and should not be put under additional pressure by electricity shortages, UN Secretary-General spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
“It is important that the civilian population that is trapped in the fighting should not be made to suffer more,” Dujarric said.
On Monday, the Kiev-controlled energy authority in Luhansk said that Ukraine’s Energy Ministry and state company Energorynok had decided to halt the electricity supplies to Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) from midnight on April 25 (21:00 GMT on April 24), citing the self-proclaimed republic’s debt for the received electricity.
The current level of the electricity supply in LPR is being maintained, the source added.
On Monday, LPR Emergencies Ministry’s head Sergey Ivanushkin said that at 11:41 p.m. local time (20:41 GMT) on April 24, Kiev’s authorities halted the electricity supplies to Luhansk’s energy plant as well as the one receiving electricity via the transit electric lines on the LPR territory.
All the enterprises and population of the self-proclaimed republic have been supplied with electricity despite the move, Ivanushkin stressed, adding that LPR’s authorities have been preparing for such a emergency situation since 2014 and have agreed on receiving electricity on the contract basis with other sources.
The humanitarian situation in LPR and well as the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk (DPR) is deteriorating amid the military conflict between local militias and Kiev’s authorities.