KIEV, Dec. 3 - The Ukrainian government on Wednesday appealed to major companies and the people to reduce consumption of power following rolling power cutoffs across the country in recent days.

The cutoffs were triggered by rising demand on cold weather and after an unexpected shutdown of a nuclear power reactor No. 3 at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant on November 28.

“I hope that within the next several days we will shift from rolling power cutoffs to voluntary reduction of power consumption,” Energy and Coal Industry Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said at a press conference.