The government and power engineers call on Ukrainians to cut down on electricity consumption due to a generation capacity shortage in the power grid, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said.

"Decrease in temperature, emergency repairs, limited operation of solar power plants due to cloudy weather. All this has led to the fact that our energy system is now experiencing a power shortage. Ukrenergo is forced to attract emergency assistance from Europe. This is an emergency event and not always guaranteed. Therefore, now the government and energy workers are calling on everyone to reduce electricity consumption. Especially from [December] 9 to [December] 19," he said on the Telegram channel on Thursday.

The prime minister called on citizens not to turn on powerful electrical appliances at the same time, transfer washing to the night hours and turn off the lights in unused rooms.

"Shopping malls, shops, restaurants can reduce the intensity of lighting of signs and display windows. Enterprises can review their production process from the point of view of energy efficiency. All this will avoid the introduction of shutdown schedules. Responsible consumption of electricity by each of us is light for everyone," Shmyhal said.