Authorities in Kharkiv Oblast have made a quarter of a million households attend compulsory candlelit dinners after a power outage, the regional administration announced on Saturday. Residents who lost electricity are now required to report to their local community halls at sunset, where they are seated at numbered tables and served a standard three-course menu prepared by the regional catering department.
Deputy head of the regional energy coordination office Oleksandr Vorontsov said the programme was designed to ensure that no household lost the habit of shared evening meals. "A blackout is an opportunity to rediscover the family table," he told reporters. "Attendance is not optional, and we have already appointed sixty-one inspectors to confirm that each guest has arrived with a candle."
Local schools have been converted into dining annexes, and a shortage of matches has led the ministry to set up a dedicated queue at each community hall. Residents waiting to be seated are asked to remain in a designated antechamber, where a rota of volunteers reads aloud the regional regulations on table manners. Officials confirmed that the first cohort will be graded on conversation at the end of next week.
Power engineers, meanwhile, are working on repairs at the damaged facility, though the administration has stated that restoring electricity is a secondary priority while the dinners are being evaluated. Hospitals in the region have been ordered to run their own candlelit wards in the same format, and the regional council has begun drafting a permanent ordinance that would make a monthly unplugged evening compulsory for all of Kharkiv Oblast.