Kyiv has turned off all municipal street lighting across the capital due to a power deficit caused by Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.
Municipal enterprise Kyivmisksvitlo announced the complete shutdown of exterior lighting, confirming that the measure was required after Russian strikes damaged energy infrastructure.
The utility said exceptions would be made only for outdoor distribution cabinets that feed public warning systems. In those cases, streetlights will switch on only when electrical power is available, operating from the moment electricity is restored until 10:00 p.m.
Kyivmisksvitlo clarified that it is responsible exclusively for the exterior lighting of municipal public spaces. The company does not provide electricity to residential apartment blocks, critical infrastructure facilities, or other institutions, and its operations depend on power supply capacities from local operator DTEK Kyiv Grids.
Utility workers advised drivers to increase their following distance from other vehicles on unlit roads. Pedestrians were urged to wear retroreflective elements, such as flickers and badges, on their clothing and backpacks to remain visible to motorists.
Russian strikes on the Kyiv energy ring
The shutdown follows severe damage to the capital's electricity network. Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Industry Research Center, said Kyiv previously maintained roughly 1.3 gigawatts of internal generating capacity, which had covered a significant portion of the city's power requirements.
Kharchenko said Russian forces virtually destroyed that generation in January through ballistic missile strikes.
Local generation currently covers less than five percent of Kyiv's electricity demand, according to Volodymyr Omelchenko, director of energy programmes at the Razumkov Centre.
Omelchenko said Russian troops are now attempting to cut off the Kyiv region from Ukraine's unified power grid. To achieve that objective, Russian forces have launched mass attacks against electrical substations and high-voltage transmission lines of state grid operator Ukrenergo, which form part of the transmission loop known as the Kyiv energy ring.
Kyiv, home to nearly three million residents before the conflict, has faced repeated strikes on its civilian utilities since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022. While state-owned Ukrenergo manages high-voltage transmission lines across the country, private distributor DTEK Kyiv Grids oversees the local grid that delivers power throughout the city.
