It's just one of the scenarios: UN mission explains its forecast of winter blackouts

The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has explained that yesterday's forecast of prolonged power outages in winter due to Russian attacks is just one of the scenarios and the most pessimistic one at that.

This was stated by Noelle Calhoun, Deputy Chief Monitor of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, on "Hromadske Radio."

"Our report really mentions such a very wide range of possible shutdowns – from 4 to 18 hours every day. We refer to the opinions of various experts. I understand that people, we would all like to know a more accurate forecast. But the range is just a confirmation that there are very different scenarios and different factors. 18 hours is the worst-case scenario," the UN mission explained.

The deputy head of the UN mission admitted that accurate forecasts are currently impossible, as everything depends on a number of important factors. The most important of which is how destructive Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian energy infrastructure will be.

"Most importantly, the impact on the civilian population will depend on whether the Russian armed forces will carry out new attacks on energy infrastructure," the UN mission added.

Earlier, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said that this winter Ukrainians should expect power outages lasting from four to 18 hours a day.