Russia has intensified its military actions against Ukraine, launching a significant barrage of drones and missiles that resulted in the deaths of seven individuals and extensive damage to energy infrastructure across three regions. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported that over 450 drones and 45 missiles were deployed in the overnight attacks, impacting key locations including Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv.
In Dnipro, a drone strike on an apartment building claimed the lives of three people and left twelve others injured. The southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia also reported three fatalities, while one person died in the Kharkiv region to the north, according to regional officials.
Energy facilities in the Kyiv, Poltava, and Kharkiv regions sustained considerable damage. Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s Prime Minister, confirmed that emergency crews had managed to stabilize the power grid. However, she cautioned that further power cuts would be necessary to facilitate repairs following the attacks.
“We first introduced emergency power cuts and then moved to hour-long cuts. We then managed to more or less stabilize the system,” Hrynchuk said during a national television broadcast. She noted that assessments of the damage were ongoing as the government coordinated efforts to find alternative power sources.
Despite these efforts, reports indicated that blackouts persisted in at least two areas: Kharkiv and Poltava. The state-owned energy company Tsentrenergo stated that these attacks represented the largest assault on its facilities since the onset of the war in February 2022. The company announced a halt in operations at its plants in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions, stating, “Our generation is now zero,” following simultaneous strikes that left their stations ablaze.
In response to these aggressive actions, President Zelenskiy called for intensified sanctions against Russia. He stated, “For every Moscow strike on energy infrastructure—aimed at harming ordinary people before winter—there must be a sanctions response targeting all Russian energy, with no exceptions.”
Since the beginning of its invasion, Russia has consistently targeted Ukraine’s energy sector, particularly as the need for heating grows during the colder months. According to the state company Naftogaz, there have been nine attacks on gas facilities within the last two months alone. Moscow’s Defence Ministry claimed that the strikes were a retaliation against Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, asserting that their forces were making progress in ongoing battles near Pokrovsk and Kupiansk.
The Ukrainian air force reported it had successfully intercepted 406 drones and nine missiles, while acknowledging that 26 missiles and 52 drones had struck 25 different sites.
In Poltava, officials reported that two cities—Kremenchuk, with a population of approximately 200,000, and Horishni Plavni, home to around 50,000 residents—were left without most of their electricity, relying on generators for essential services such as water supply.
As diplomatic efforts toward peace remain stalled, Ukraine is focused on diminishing Russia’s capacity to sustain its military campaign. The situation continues to evolve as authorities work to restore vital services and respond to the ongoing threat of further attacks.
