An accident occurred at the Odessa Thermal Power Plant

Due to an emergency at the Odesa Combined Heat and Power Plant, customers in the central part of the city, as well as several transportation companies, were left without power.

This was reported by the press office of the Odesa City Hall.

“Utility workers are currently working to restore power. The estimated time for completion is by the end of the day. City authorities are in close contact with utility workers and are monitoring the situation,” the statement said.

On June 17, part of Odesa had already been without power, but at that time it was due to repair work. Although tram and trolleybus routes had to be rerouted during that work, and the area without power also had no water. However, the utility workers completed the work before evening, so Odessa residents did not have to endure the restrictions for long.  

Earlier, the High Anti-Corruption Court resumed hearings in the criminal caseagainst Yevhen Lakhnenko, the former liquidator of PJSC “Odesa Thermal Power Plant,” on charges of embezzling 28 million hryvnias. The case had been suspended in January 2023 because, starting on January 26, 2023, he was on a mission with the “Liman” operational-tactical group, which was fighting Russian occupiers in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. The investigation established that in the spring of 2016, the arbitration manager of PJSC “Odesa Thermal Power Plant” (99.989% of whose authorized capital is owned by the state), in violation of the law, entered into a contract with a commercial company for the supply of natural gas, even though that company lacked the technical capacity to fulfill the supply.

In addition, PJSC “Odesa Thermal Power Plant” filed a lawsuit against the municipal enterprise “Odesa City Heat Supply” to recover 3.18 billion hryvnias in debt. According to the case file, the company is seeking to recover 2.32 billion hryvnias in principal debt, as well as inflation-related losses, 3% annual interest, and a late payment penalty.

Кирило Бойко