A “significant” accident at the Odesa substation of electricity in southern Ukraine left half a million people without power.

According to Ukrenergo, the large-scale failure of a network caused darkness in the Black Sea port and surrounding areas.

The failure was caused by equipment that had been repeatedly repaired following Russia’s attack on the country’s grid. Residents were warned to expect long blackouts.

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“Unfortunately, due to the severity of the accident, power supply restrictions will continue for a longer time. The company stated that it was not possible to predict when power will be fully restored.

Maksym Marchenko (a Ukrainian colonel) wrote on Telegram: “A serious incident occurred at NPC Ukrenergo’s energy facility, which led to a fire.

“This caused the Odessa region to be almost entirely de-energized. Nearly 500,000 subscribers are without electricity as of right now.

Denys Shmyhal, Ukrainian Prime Minister, stated that the situation was difficult and the magnitude of the accident were significant. It is impossible to restore power supply quickly, especially for critical infrastructure.

According to him, the substation was damaged by multiple Russian missile strikes.

According to Mr Shmyhal, the CEO of the national grid operator and the energy minister were in touch to oversee repairs. Meanwhile authorities worked to restore power to apartment blocks that require electricity to heat their homes and critical infrastructure.

The temperature in the south city was 2C today. It is expected to drop below freezing during much of next week.

DTEK Odesa Power Grids posted on Facebook that it was the second large-scale accident in 24 hours.

According to Mr Shmyhal, he had instructed Ukraine’s energy ministry (Ukraine) to immediately scramble all high-power generators in its national inventory and deliver them to Odesa within one day.

He also directed the Ukrainian foreign ministry to appeal directly to Turkey to send powerships, which are vessels that carry power plants, to help the city.