President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with the participation of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Minister for Communities and Territories Development Oleksiy Chernyshov, Acting Minister of Energy Yuriy Vitrenko, representatives of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and Ukravtodor to eliminate the emergency situation in some regions of the country caused by worsened weather conditions and snowfall.
During a meeting, the Head of State heard a report on the work carried out to ensure traffic movement on highways, in particular in Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, where the increase in snow cover is now 20-60 cm. Due to snowfall on January 28, a traffic jam of large vehicles emerged on M-05 Kyiv - Odesa highway on the section Znamyanka - Revova in the direction of the capital. Currently, two lanes in the direction of Odesa have been cleared and the traffic movement in both directions has been ensured. The work is continued. In the Mykolaiv region, the traffic movement on M-13 Kropyvnytskyi - Platonove highway is being restored.
The emergency response headquarters on public roads is constantly monitoring the struggle against bad weather and changes in weather conditions.
The issue of damage to the power grids due to the weather was also discussed at the meeting. Due to this damage almost 900 settlements were left without electricity in two and a half days. Currently, more than 350 settlements remain without electricity, but active work is underway to solve these problems by the end of the day.
"I also ask the Prime Minister to carry out separate work on modernizing the old power grids and obtaining the appropriate equipment needed for their service. The weather can always bring surprises, but we must be ready," Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.