Ukraine in State of Emergency After Power Cut

This nation of 52 million people went on emergency footing Tuesday, shutting down factories throughout the country to cope with energy shortages after Russia uncoupled it from a joint power grid.

Engineers scrambled to keep vital industries open by redistributing power supplies, already hit by unusually cold weather and a 2-week-old strike by coal miners. Rotating power cuts kept homes unlighted for hours at a time.

“We have been cut off from the Russian system before, but we have never seen a situation as critical as now,” Olexander Svetilyk of Ukraine’s power distribution network.

“I see no prospect for improvement. There are no coal reserves; there are problems with heating oil and gas; water levels are falling at hydroelectric stations. The situation could turn awful, with the system breaking into little pieces.”

Energy Ministry spokeswoman Oksana Liven said Russian officials cut Ukraine off from the grid Monday evening after noting a surge in demand and a reduction in operating frequency. It was the second cutoff ordered by Moscow in three months.

She saw little chance of Ukraine being reconnected soon.

Trade unions said miners demanding back pay remained on strike at 40 of Ukraine’s 250-odd pits, with a further 87 mines refusing to load coal. But the figures had fallen, and even activists said the strike was winding down.

Half Ukraine’s electricity is being generated by nuclear power, including some from Chernobyl, scene of the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1986.