Key takeaways:
- Ukrainian authorities reported at least six people killed and 33 injured nationwide in the overnight attacks.
- DTEK said it restored electricity to about 8,000 homes after strikes damaged the power grid.
- Ukraine’s prime minister said 11 regions were attacked and described the assault on energy infrastructure as the largest since spring.
Russian missiles and drones struck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight, killing at least six people and disrupting electricity supplies in Kyiv and other regions, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday. Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi called it the largest combined attack on the country’s energy system since spring.
Three people were killed in the capital, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klischko. Emergency services said a child was killed in the surrounding Kyiv region after a house collapsed. The BBC reported two deaths in the northeastern Sumy region and one in Mykolaiv, citing regional officials. It was not clear whether Kyiv’s reported death toll included the child; local authorities put the nationwide toll at at least six dead and 33 injured.
The assault focused primarily on Kyiv and the surrounding region, Koretskyi said. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said crews restored power to about 8,000 homes after what it called “a difficult night” for the capital. Ukraine’s energy ministry said some households in several regions remained without electricity Wednesday, while state grid operator Ukrenergo urged residents to avoid using powerful appliances between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time because supplies were lower than usual.
“Since the summer, there has effectively not been a single day without enemy attacks on our energy infrastructure,” Koretskyi said in a Telegram statement. “However, a mass and combined attack of this scale has occurred for the first time since the end of the last heating season.”
Koretskyi said 11 regions were attacked overnight and that residential buildings, social infrastructure, civilian businesses and railways were also hit. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said critical infrastructure was struck in the Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad and Rivne regions.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it attacked energy facilities in the Kyiv region that it described as connected to Ukrainian military production. The BBC reported that the ministry named the Trypilska power station, Kyiv’s largest electricity supplier, as a target, though Ukrainian officials had not confirmed a strike on the plant. Moscow also said it hit a communications facility in Kyiv and port infrastructure in the southern city of Izmail, according to Al Jazeera.
Kyiv residents woke to thick smoke after a night of explosions and air-raid alerts, the BBC reported. Authorities advised people in several districts to keep their windows closed until the smoke cleared. Officials reported damage to homes, businesses, warehouses and vehicles. Klischko said one of those killed in the capital was a utility worker at a warehouse.
The strikes come as temperatures begin to fall ahead of winter. Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s energy system since its full-scale invasion in 2022, causing electricity and heating outages during previous winters.
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