\n Ukraine's energy grid was buckling under temperatures in excess of 36C on Monday, as the war-torn country was hit by the deadly heatwave that has afflicted much of Europe over the last week.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian drone and missile attacks have decimated Ukraine's energy network since Moscow invaded in February 2022 -- causing tens of billions of dollars worth of damage and leading to frequent power outages in the coldest and hottest parts of the year, as it cannot handle surges in demand.\n<\/p>\n
\n In the western Rivne region, authorities introduced emergency power outages to ease pressure on the grid as temperatures passed 36C as of 15:00 (1200 GMT), according to data from the state Hydrometeorological Centre.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Abnormal heat has led to an overload of the power system,\" the regional authorities said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The central Khmelnytsky region also announced temporary outages and five other regions -- from Ivano-Frankivsk in the west to Zaporizhzhia on the front line in the south -- warned households and businesses to be prepared for blackouts on Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n The World Health Organization said it had recorded more than 1,300 excess deaths in Europe since June 21 when the temperature spike started.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Hydrometeorological Centre had warned of \"intense heat\" throughout Monday, as it forecast the mercury hitting 35C-38C in the hottest parts of the country.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukraine's record temperature is 42C, recorded in the eastern city of Lugansk -- now under Russian occupation -- in August 2010.\n<\/p>\n
\n The current scorching temperatures are a \"a serious test for equipment that has been operating under wartime conditions for more than four years and has withstood numerous attacks,\" Sergii Kovalenko, CEO of the Yasno energy company said over the weekend.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said that summer was the peak period for repairing the energy network, battered through the winter by repeat Russian attacks, meaning the grid was already \"operating at the limit of its capabilities\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"That is why in the coming days the power system will be operating in a very strained mode,\" he added.\n<\/p>\n
\n The summer outages come just months after Russian attacks on power stations left millions without heating and electricity in temperatures of -20C for days on end through the winter.\n<\/p>\n
\n The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russia's top military leaders for \"the war crime of causing excessive incidental harm to civilians\" through its barrage of Ukraine's energy network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ukraine's energy grid was buckling under temperatures in excess of 36C on Monday, as the war-torn country was hit by the deadly heatwave that has afflicted much of Europe over the last week. Russian drone and missile attacks have decimated Ukraine's energy network since Moscow invaded in February 2022 -- causing tens of billions of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-160970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n