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A large-scale Russian assault on Ukraine's energy infrastructure killed four people and triggered widespread blackouts across multiple regions Saturday, authorities said, intensifying concerns about the country's ability to provide heat and power as winter approaches.
The overnight barrage included 458 drones and 45 missiles, according to Ukraine's air force, which said it intercepted 406 drones and nine missiles. The attacks forced emergency power cuts in Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine's two largest cities, while disrupting water supplies and railway service.
"Russian strikes once again targeted people's everyday life. They deprived communities of power, water, and heating, destroyed critical infrastructure, and damaged railway networks," Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said.
Three people died in Dnipro after a Russian drone struck a residential building directly, while another fatality was reported in Kharkiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The assault marked the ninth major attack on gas infrastructure since early October, according to energy company Naftogaz, part of Moscow's intensified campaign against Ukraine's heating and power systems in recent months. Natural gas facilities that produce Ukraine's primary heating fuel have sustained significant damage.
In Kremenchuk, located in the eastern Poltava region, residents lost access to electricity, water and partial heating. Kharkiv's mayor reported a "noticeable shortage of electricity" in Ukraine's second-largest city.
The attacks also caused substantial railway delays, with Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba accusing Russia of increasing strikes on locomotive depots.
"We are working to eliminate the consequences throughout the country. The focus is on the rapid restoration of heat, light and water," Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
Russia's defense ministry said it struck "enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and gas and energy facilities that support their operation," echoing justifications provided in previous waves of attacks.
The Kyiv School of Economics estimated in a recent report that the attacks have shut down half of Ukraine's natural gas production. Oleksandr Kharchenko, Ukraine's top energy expert, warned at a media briefing Wednesday that if Kyiv's two power and heating plants went offline for more than three days when temperatures drop below minus 10 degrees Celsius, the capital would face a "technological disaster."
Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine's power and heating grid throughout the nearly four-year invasion, destroying large portions of critical civilian infrastructure. The latest attacks have heightened alarm about potential heating outages as the war enters its fourth winter.
Ukraine has responded by increasing strikes on Russian oil depots and refineries in recent months, aiming to disrupt Moscow's vital energy exports and create fuel shortages. On Friday evening, Ukrainian drone attacks on energy infrastructure in Russia's Volgograd region caused power cuts there as well, according to regional governor Andrei Botcharov.
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