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Ukraine’s leader warns of power cuts

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko warned Thursday that nationalist protesters blocking a railway to the coal-rich Russian-backed separatist east could cause power outages across the country and job losses as a result.

Ultranationalists have put a stop to a railway line since the start of the year between the coal-producing east and the rest of Ukraine to protest against Kiev trading with the rebels.

Ukraine has declared a state of emergency in the energy sector over the blockade.

Poroshenko called it a “destabilising factor” for the war-scarred and cash-strapped former Soviet state.

The pro-Western Ukrainian leader warned in a speech that the coal delivery stoppage would cause several cities and parts of the capital to “be left without heating”.

He said the protest could cost Ukraine “300,000 jobs” because factories will grind to a halt without the required power.

He later told an emergency National Security and Defence Council meeting that Ukraine would temporarily raise its nuclear power reliance to nearly 60 percent from the current 47 to reduce its dependence on coal.

“I am pleased to report that we are sharply raising the share of nuclear energy in our energy balance,” he said in a statement.

The blockade has also drawn expressions of concern from the European Union on Wednesday and the United States on Thursday.

“We are concerned by the current disruption to the coal supply from the non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Lugansk and its potential impact on Ukraine’s energy system, the Ukrainian economy, and the Ukrainian people,” the US embassy in Kiev said in a statement.

– Trading with the foe –

The activists blocking the shipments believe Ukraine should not be trading with its foe and that the insurgents are using the freight trains to shuttle weapons and fighters to flashpoints in the war.

Kiev buys a specific type of coal produced only in the eastern self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic to fuel the power plants that provide the country’s electricity.

The trade has gone on even as Kiev and the separatists are locked in a 34-month conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

Ukraine’s army and police said that three of its soldiers and one civilian were killed in a new uptick of violence in the war zone.

Energy Minister Igor Nasalyk warned that Ukraine was preparing for a month of possible rolling blackouts and urged consumers to sharply curtail their electricity use.

The country has been beset by problems ranging from a war it blames on Russia to a complete lack of control of its vital industrial east in which rebels have set up their own fiefdoms.

Yet Poroshenko is walking on thin ice because direct condemnation of the protests risks further angering the ultranationalists and turning them against Kiev.

The protesters on Thursday vowed to continue their action.

“All the threats by the corrupt authorities only confirm that we are on the right path and give us strength and inspiration,” they said in a statement.

Organisers later announced setting up their first road block to prevent Ukraine and the militias from trading using alternative routes.