Widespread power cuts after overnight missile and drone assault
Ukraine is facing extensive power outages after a large overnight Russian aerial assault that Ukrainian officials say killed at least two people in a single strike and caused wider casualties across the country.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said nine regions were struck, with many attacks arriving while residents slept. State energy company Centrenergo described the barrage as “the most massive strike on our thermal power plants since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.” Temperatures have fallen to single-digit Celsius across much of Ukraine, heightening the humanitarian stakes.
Energy infrastructure hit, emergency cuts imposed
Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk said:
“The enemy is once again launching massive attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.”
Emergency load-shedding has been introduced across a number of regions and will be lifted when the grid stabilizes. Energy companies published schedules indicating Kyiv residents could face extensive outages through the weekend.
Human cost and damage
A drone strike on a nine-storey apartment block in Dnipro in central Ukraine killed two people and injured 11, officials said. Video captured the moment the drone struck in the dark. One resident, who gave her name as Maia, said: “There’s nothing here, just ordinary buildings.” Another tenant, Larysa, described how shrapnel showered the bed where she slept: “I don’t know how I survived… We gathered quickly and started to go downstairs. People were screaming.”
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that, across all Russian strikes in the previous 24 hours, ten people were killed and nearly 50 were wounded.
Scale of the attack and air-defence challenges
The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 45 missiles — including some ballistic types — and launched roughly 450 attack drones. Of the missiles, only nine were intercepted, the air force said. It added that "26 missiles and 52 strike UAVs [drones] have been recorded hitting 25 locations," with many strikes concentrated in the central regions of Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk and around Kyiv.
President Zelensky warned in his daily address that it is “extremely difficult to counter ballistic and aero-ballistic missiles” and that only a few systems worldwide can intercept such weapons reliably. He reiterated that Ukraine is working with the United States to acquire additional Patriot air-defence batteries to better protect key infrastructure.
Claims and counterclaims
Moscow’s defence ministry said the strikes were retaliation for Ukrainian attacks and claimed they included Kinzhal ballistic missiles and other weapons targeting "enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and gas and energy facilities of Ukraine that supported their operations."
Ukrainian forces and security services have also stepped up strikes on Russian refineries, pipelines and pumping stations in recent months. Russian regional officials reported a Ukrainian drone attack on energy facilities in Volgograd, where a substation was struck and power was restored several hours later, according to the local governor.
Outlook and response
Repeated hits on energy infrastructure have severely damaged Ukrainian gas production and prompted widespread blackouts; officials warn the country may need to import expensive European gas to cover shortfalls. Minister Grynchuk insisted:
“Despite the enemy’s plans, Ukraine will have light and heat this winter.”
As Kyiv presses allies for more air-defence systems and longer-range weapons to strike Russian energy and military targets, the humanitarian and strategic pressures on Ukraine continue to grow.
