Seven civilians, including a child, were killed and 24 others wounded as Russia launched a major combined attack targeting Ukraine’s power infrastructure around Kyiv and elsewhere ahead of the winter heating season.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Russia unleashed a large-scale missile and drone attack across Ukraine overnight into Wednesday, killing seven civilians, including a child, wounding 24 others and striking energy infrastructure as Ukrainian authorities warned that Moscow is intensifying its pressure on the country ahead of winter. The nationwide casualty figures were announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and were also reported by The Associated Press.
The barrage concentrated heavily on Kyiv and the surrounding region, damaging electricity infrastructure and causing power outages while also striking civilian areas in several districts of the capital.
Ukrainian officials said the scale and combination of missiles and drones raised concerns that Russia is beginning another sustained campaign against the country’s power system as colder weather approaches.
“There has been virtually no day since summer when the enemy did not attack energy infrastructure,” Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said on Telegram. “But such a massive and combined attack happened for the first time since the end of the last heating season.”
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian energy facilities during the war, particularly during colder months, when damage to electricity and heating systems can leave residents without power, heat or running water.
Wednesday’s attack was among the heaviest recent assaults on the energy network, with Reuters reporting that power facilities in multiple regions were struck during the coordinated operation.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the accelerating pace of Russian aerial attacks has subjected Ukrainians to prolonged periods of warnings and shelter orders.
He described recent conditions as “days of almost uninterrupted air raid alerts across Ukraine.”
“Russia is intensifying its terror: jet-powered drones during the day, ballistic and cruise missiles at night, constant attacks against our cities and civilian life,” Sybiha said on X.
In the wider Kyiv region, a boy was killed when an attack struck a private home in Vyshhorod, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration.
Emergency personnel pulled three other people alive from the rubble.
Inside Kyiv, three people were killed and four others injured, authorities said. Civilian areas in at least four districts of the capital were reported damaged.
Zelenskyy described the overnight assault as “a difficult attack” and said energy infrastructure in Kyiv and the surrounding region was among Russia’s principal targets.
The strikes came as Ukraine continues struggling to defend against a growing combination of ballistic missiles and faster jet-powered drones that can be more difficult for air defenses to intercept.
Russia launched approximately 2,850 jet-powered drones against Ukraine during August, according to Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat. By Tuesday, he said, the number launched during September had already reached 3,177.
Ihnat said the attacks frequently arrive in waves and have been directed particularly heavily at Kyiv and the surrounding region.
The near-continuous air raid alerts have disrupted schools, businesses, transportation and other aspects of everyday life as residents repeatedly move into shelters.
Ukraine’s military says its defenses face particular difficulties from ballistic missiles because of their speed and trajectory. Ihnat said the country needs additional interceptors for U.S.-made Patriot systems, as well as missiles for other ground-based air defenses.
Zelenskyy thanked foreign governments that have recently provided Ukraine with additional air-defense assistance but said the requirements will increase as temperatures fall.
“And the closer we get to winter, the more of this protection we need,” Zelenskyy said. “We must do everything to ensure that Russia’s bet on ballistic missile and drone terror does not pay off.”
Ukraine has sought additional Patriot missiles and other air-defense systems from Western allies throughout the war as Russia has expanded the scale and variety of its aerial attacks.
Moscow has increasingly combined different weapons in the same assault, forcing Ukrainian air defenses to respond simultaneously to drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles traveling at different speeds and along different flight paths.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its overnight operation struck Ukrainian energy and infrastructure targets.
The ministry claimed Russian forces hit a hydroelectric power plant, a thermal power plant, an electrical substation, an energy storage facility and a data center.
Ukrainian authorities did not independently confirm each of those targets. Kyiv routinely limits detailed disclosures about damage to critical infrastructure, saying such information could help Russia assess the effectiveness of its strikes and plan future attacks.
Russia separately said Wednesday that its forces had targeted energy facilities in the Kyiv region and other infrastructure it described as supporting Ukrainian military operations.
The attack comes roughly four and a half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and as diplomatic efforts have yet to produce an agreement ending the fighting.
Ukrainian officials say Moscow has not meaningfully engaged with U.S.-backed efforts to stop the war. Russia has said it is seeking a comprehensive settlement rather than a temporary ceasefire and has continued to demand territorial concessions that Kyiv rejects.
The renewed pressure on Ukraine’s electrical system carries particular significance as the country prepares for another winter of war.
Russian forces have repeatedly targeted power generation, substations and electricity distribution networks during previous winters, forcing utilities to impose emergency shutdowns and leaving some communities without heat or electricity for extended periods.
Ukrainian officials have characterized that strategy as an effort to “weaponize winter” by damaging the infrastructure civilians rely on during the coldest months.
Wednesday’s barrage added to concerns that the seasonal campaign may again be intensifying, with Ukrainian officials pointing both to the scale of the energy attacks and to the growing number of drones Russia is deploying.
The immediate toll, however, extended beyond the power grid.
Homes and other civilian locations were damaged in Kyiv and the surrounding region, seven people were reported dead nationwide and dozens more were wounded as emergency crews searched damaged buildings and worked to restore electricity.
With winter approaching and Russia increasing the tempo of its aerial operations, Ukrainian leaders say maintaining sufficient air-defense ammunition has become increasingly important to protecting both the country’s civilian population and the infrastructure needed to keep homes heated and powered through the coming months.
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