{"id":198797,"date":"2026-01-31T23:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T23:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-live-chernobyl-loses-power-while-mass-blackouts-continue-across-ukraine-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T23:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T23:29:11","slug":"ukraine-war-live-chernobyl-loses-power-while-mass-blackouts-continue-across-ukraine-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-live-chernobyl-loses-power-while-mass-blackouts-continue-across-ukraine-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war live: Chernobyl loses power while mass blackouts continue across Ukraine – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ukrainian president says talks with Russia and the US may be delayed while Trump focuses on ‘situation with Iran’
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The Chernobyl power plant has lost power off-site as blackouts across Ukraine continue.
Russia has been repeatedly targeting the country\u2019s energy facilities during the winter as the war grinds towards it\u2019s fourth anniversary in February. It is not yet clear what caused the brief Chernobyl outage.
On Thursday Trump<\/a> claimed Russian president Vladimir Putin<\/a> had agreed to not attack Ukrainian energy infrastructure this weekend at a time when the war-hit nation is experiencing particularly harsh winter conditions.
The Kremlin has said the brief and limited ceasefire will end on Sunday while Ukraine said it will not attack Russia’s energy grid in exchange.
Three way peace talks are due to take place between Kyiv, Moscow and Washington on Sunday.
However, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested the talks may not go ahead as planned due to growing tensions between the US and Iran.
“We are in constant communication with the American side and are expecting specific details from them regarding further meetings.
“We are counting on meetings next week and are preparing for them,\u201d Zelensky said.
The British Ministry of Defence shared its latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine on Friday:
Ukraine is investigating a \u201ctechnical incident\u201d on its energy grid after two lines between Romania and Moldova, as well as lines in Ukraine, stopped operating.
\u201cAs of now, there is no confirmation of external interference or a cyberattack,\u201d Volodymyr Zelensky said.
\u201cMost indications point to weather: ice buildup on the lines and automatic shutdowns.\u201d
Earlier, Ukraine’s energy minister Denys Shmyhal blamed a technical malfunction for the outages.
Donald Trump said on Thursday that Vladimir Putin had agreed to a brief ceasefire on Ukraine\u2019s energy infrastructure, which would protect the country from a time of \u201cextraordinarily cold\u201d weather.
The Kremlin said the ceasefire would end on Sunday.
The number of soldiers killed, injured or missing on both sides of Russia’s war on Ukraine could hit two million<\/a> by the spring, a report has warned.
It would mean Moscow suffering the largest number of troop deaths recorded for any major power in any conflict since the Second World War.
The study by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies revealed the slow, deadly grind of the conflict<\/a>, and comes before the fourth anniversary of Putin full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
The report said Russia suffered 1.2 million casualties, including up to 325,000 troop deaths, between February 2022 and December 2025.
\u201cNo major power has suffered anywhere near these numbers of casualties or fatalities in any war since World War II,\u201d the authors said.
It estimated that Ukraine, with its smaller army and population, had suffered between 500,000 to 600,000 military casualties, including up to 140,000 deaths.
Kyiv is forecast to enter a brutally cold stretch starting that is expected to last into next week.
Temperatures in some areas will drop to -30C, the State Emergency Service said.
Russia has sought to deny Ukrainian civilians heat, light and running water over the course of the war, in a strategy that Ukrainian officials describe as \u201cweaponizing winter.\u201d
The possibility of a respite in energy sector attacks was discussed at last weekend\u2019s meeting in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, between envoys of Ukraine, Russia and the United States, Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said that he had agreed to adhere to a \u201creciprocal approach\u201d on energy assaults.
\u201cIf Russia does not strike us, we will \u2026 take corresponding steps,\u201d he told reporters.
Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested that three-way peace talks set to take place in the UAE tomorrow will now take place next week.
In his nightly video address, President Zelensky said he was waiting for more information from the US about further peace talks and expected new meetings to take place next week.
“We are in constant communication with the American side and are expecting specific details from them regarding further meetings.
“We are counting on meetings next week and are preparing for them.”
Ukraine\u2019s president has said earlier that talks could be delayed due to the ongoing tensions between the US and Iran.
World affairs editor Sam Kiley writes<\/em>: Chaotic, unprincipled and dangerously effective, Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s latest foreign policy move in Ukraine<\/a> may provide a brief respite from Russian bombing<\/a> in plunging temperatures that have left civilians freezing in their homes.
The danger lies in what he expects to get in return<\/a> for securing a week-long agreement from Vladimir Putin<\/a> to hold off on tormenting Ukraine.
The concession he will, no doubt, demand is that Kyiv give in to the Kremlin\u2019s demands<\/a> to hand over his most potent defensive lines and fortress cities without a shot being fired in return for a longer \u201cceasefire\u201d.
Trump<\/a> has been backing the wrong side in Ukraine, and may soon launch<\/a> a war<\/a> in Iran<\/a> that he cannot control.
US<\/a> negotiators have been trying to get Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to cede all of Donetsk and most of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces as a reward for Russia<\/a>\u2019s bloody invasion that has, by many estimates, cost the country 1.2 million casualties<\/a>.
Click here for the full story. <\/a>
The power outages come amid mounting concerns among US and European officials over hundreds of millions of dollars in American energy assistance for Ukraine that remain unreleased.
The aid was originally intended to help Ukraine import liquefied natural gas and rebuild infrastructure damaged by Russian strikes, say sources including a US and a Ukrainian official.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) had notified Congress during the Biden administration of its intention to disburse some funds.
Yet, after USAID was effectively shuttered in the initial weeks of the Trump administration, some money fell into what sources described as “bureaucratic limbo.”
Ukraine’s Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal blamed a technical malfunction that caused simultaneous outages on two high-voltage power lines, one linking the grids of Romania and Moldova and another connecting western and central Ukraine.
Moldova’s energy ministry said the disruption there was triggered by serious problems in Ukraine’s grid that led to a voltage drop on the line connecting Romania and Moldova.
Romania’s energy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The accident caused a shutdown on Ukraine’s side, triggered automatic protection at substations and the temporary disconnection of nuclear power plant units from the grid, Shmyhal said.
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