There will definitely be no normal electricity supply in Konotop following Russian attacks until spring, - mayor
Artem Semenikhin, the mayor of Konotop in the Sumy region, has stated that he does not expect a normal electricity supply in the town until spring, although fuel for the generators at the ‘Points of Resilience’ is already available.
He made these remarks during an appearance on "Suspilne Studio", as reported by Censor.NET.
On the power supply
According to Semenikhin, there has been some progress in restoring the electricity supply, but he "wouldn’t be as overly optimistic as people are saying at the moment".
"The power companies are restoring some things, but some lines have already failed. The damage is serious, after all. Therefore, I think that there will definitely be no normal electricity supply in Konotop until spring. There will, indeed, be some progress," said the mayor.
"We realise that in winter, in 90 per cent of cases, we will be running on generators," he added.
Fuel and aid
According to Semenikhin, the city already has fuel, and it is possible to refuel the generators for the resilience centres. Fuel is also being supplied by partner cities Kamianets-Podilskyi and Ivano-Frankivsk, whilst UNICEF is providing fuel for the hospital. The organisation World Central Kitchen also visited Konotop and provided meals for residents who are unable to cook on electric hobs.
Several resilience centres were out of action because they had sustained critical damage as a result of Russian strikes; alternative centres have been opened nearby instead.
"We currently have sufficient resources for a certain period of time. We are now working on setting up warming centres there in preparation for possible blackouts in the heating supply," said Semenikhin.
Hospital
According to the mayor, the hospital has alternative power sources; however, the lifts did not work during the power cuts because they had not been included in the backup power system when it was installed.
"This will be rectified in about a week to a week and a half. The MRI scanner wasn’t working because the machine belongs to a private owner who hadn’t provided a generator," he added.
What is happening in Konotop
- Russia attacked civilian infrastructure in the Konotop community on the night of 24 October. Residential areas, gas networks and an educational institution were damaged. The city was left without electricity, water supply restrictions came into force, tram services were suspended, and resilience centres were set up across the city.
- On the evening of 27 October, the town remained without power. Suspilne subscribers provided a video showing residents unable to access a closed ‘resilience centre’. That day, Semenikhin told Suspilne that the ‘resilience centres’ were operational, with the exception of those that had been hit. When asked about the availability of diesel fuel for generators, he replied: "There isn’t any." He did not explain why, citing the impossibility of continuing the conversation.
- On 28 October, during a live broadcast on his Facebook page, Semenikhin said that the city was expecting 20 tonnes of diesel fuel from the regional budget.
- As a result of the Russian attack, around 200,000 customers were left without power. As of 18:00 on 28 October, around 4,500 customers remained without power.
