KYIV (AFP/Reuters) – Several cities across Ukraine were recording historic scorching temperatures, officials said on Wednesday, at a time when major urban hubs are suffering long periods without electricity after Russian attacks on power plants.
In the capital Kyiv, Ukrainians have been seeking respite from oppressive heat by swimming in the Dnipro river that cuts through the city, where some districts have been without power for hours at a time due to electricity rationing.
"This is the hottest summer of my life," said 22-year-old Dmytro, who complained he had no electricity for about 20 hours a day.
Another resident, 18-year-old Diana, told AFP the temperature in her workplace was unbearable.
"Air conditioners don't run at work when there is no power. This is how we are living," she said.
A state meteorological station covering the Kyiv region said Wednesday that air temperatures one day earlier reached 36 degrees Celsius, beating by 0.2C a previous record for the same date set in 1931.
The Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center said historic records were set in Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi and Mykolaiv -- cities in the centre and south of Ukraine.
The records come as the energy ministry has stepped up imports of electricity from European countries and imposed strict rationing due to Russian attacks that have halved Ukraine's electricity generation capacity, compared to one year ago.
The ministry said Wednesday that with temperatures at their "maximum", there would be rolling power outages across the country.
Electricity consumption is "also expected to reach a record level which significantly exceeds the capacity of Ukrainian power plants", the ministry explained in a statement.
Last month, Kyiv urged officials to turn off air conditioners in government buildings and called on regional authorities to limit street lighting to ease pressure on the grid.
RAIN FORECAST
An abnormal heatwave seen in Ukraine in the last few weeks will begin to ease on Thursday making way for rain in most of the country, the state weather forecaster said.
Record high temperatures have had a negative impact on Ukraine's grain and oilseed crops and led to widespread electricity cuts.
"We can call this heatwave abnormal as many temperature records were broken," Natalia Ptukha from Ukraine's state weather forecasting centre told a televised briefing.
She said the expected cold snap would not be drastic and a new period of warming could arrive in as little as a week.
Agricultural producers group the Ukrainian Agrarian Council said on Tuesday that this year's corn yield could fall by 30-35% because of the extreme heat and drought.
The state weather forecaster also said the country's harvest of late crops could decline by 20-30% in central, southern and eastern regions owing to the extreme heat.
It said 30% to 50% of the overall area under late crops could be affected by drought.