By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure left more than 850,000 people without electricity Sunday, Nov. 8, while another Russian drone struck the site of a deadly bombing in southern Ukraine where emergency crews were still searching for dozens of missing civilians.
The attacks caused widespread disruptions across several regions as temperatures approached freezing, intensifying concerns about Ukraine’s ability to maintain electricity and heating during another winter of war. The strikes also came ahead of U.S.-brokered peace negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives scheduled for Nov. 10-11 in Abu Dhabi.
In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian electricity provider DTEK reported that more than 600,000 residents had lost power after overnight strikes damaged major energy facilities.
According to Agence France-Presse’s Nov. 8 report, DTEK said a “night attack has damaged important energy facilities,” forcing emergency repair crews to begin restoration work under the continued threat of Russian strikes.
The company said its efforts to restore electricity were “complicated by repeated attacks.”
Additional disruptions occurred in northeastern Ukraine, where Russian drones targeted energy infrastructure in the Kharkiv region. Mykola Baksheyev, mayor of Zlatopil, reported that a drone struck “a critical infrastructure facility,” leaving nearly 250,000 customers without electricity.
“Nearly 250,000 customers in the Kharkiv region were left without power,” Baksheyev said.
Repair crews were dispatched to restore service, although the extent of the damage prevented officials from providing a reliable timetable.
“The exact time for restoring power supply is still unknown,” Baksheyev added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes triggered “widespread power outages across the country,” affecting residential neighborhoods and essential public services.
The damage extended beyond electricity generation and distribution. In the northern Zhytomyr region, Russian attacks disrupted heating systems serving residential buildings.
“In the Zhytomyr region alone, 140 apartment buildings were left without heating following a Russian strike,” Zelenskyy said.
The latest attacks followed another large-scale Russian bombardment Saturday, when Ukraine’s Energy Ministry reported that strikes against power facilities caused outages in five regions and significantly disrupted electricity transmission in Kyiv.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy network throughout the war, damaging power plants, substations and transmission infrastructure. The strikes have forced Ukrainian authorities to undertake extensive repairs while managing electricity shortages and disruptions to heating and water supplies.
The renewed campaign comes as winter conditions begin to affect much of the country, increasing the consequences of damage to facilities needed to heat homes and maintain public services.
Meanwhile, a separate Russian drone attack Sunday struck the village of Komyshuvakha in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, where rescuers had been working for seven days to recover victims from a destroyed humanitarian aid distribution center.
The facility, housed in a former school and underground shelter, was devastated Nov. 2 when Russian forces launched multiple guided aerial bombs at the area as civilians gathered to receive humanitarian assistance.
Ukrainian authorities said the death toll from that attack had increased to at least 55, with approximately 50 additional people still missing.
“This morning, the Russians attacked Komyshuvakha with an FPV drone, where emergency rescue operations have been underway for seven days,” Zelenskyy said Sunday. “Unfortunately, more people may still be under the rubble.”
According to The Associated Press, Sunday’s drone strike damaged specialized rescue equipment but caused no additional reported injuries.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service confirmed that emergency personnel had been operating at the site when the drone struck.
The original bombing was among the deadliest attacks on Ukrainian civilians during the current phase of the war.
The Nov. 2 assault involved multiple Russian guided bombs that struck the former school and an underground shelter used by local residents for protection from aerial attacks.
Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of conducting a so-called double-tap attack, in which additional bombs struck after emergency workers arrived to assist victims of the initial explosions.
The Kyiv Independent reported Nov. 6 that Ukrainian officials identified 10 aerial bomb strikes, including the use of a three-ton FAB-3000 bomb capable of causing extensive structural destruction.
The underground shelter collapsed following a direct hit, trapping civilians and complicating rescue operations.
Emergency crews have continued recovering bodies from the wreckage, although repeated Russian drone activity has forced them to limit the time spent working at the site.
Oleksandr Kovalenko, a spokesperson for the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said rescuers were sometimes able to work for only 15 to 20 minutes before withdrawing because of the threat of additional attacks.
Many recovered bodies have been difficult to identify, requiring authorities to collect DNA samples from relatives.
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency reported that approximately 50 people remained unaccounted for as of Sunday, although investigators continued reviewing missing-person reports and identifying victims.
The bombing also killed several police officers who were assisting civilians during the attack.
On Saturday, families and colleagues gathered in Zaporizhzhia for funeral ceremonies honoring six police officers killed in the strikes, including three who died near the former school.
Residents described the destruction of a facility that had served as one of the few remaining sources of humanitarian assistance and shelter in the front-line community.
Mykola Krasnov, 72, told The Associated Press that his wife disappeared after traveling to the center to collect aid.
“She went to get humanitarian aid, and a 3-ton bomb was dropped there. Where is she?” Krasnov said. “She didn’t come home, and they didn’t find her body there. She isn’t in the morgue, and she isn’t here alive.”
Another victim, Natalia Karapetian, had remained in the village to help distribute food to residents, many of whom were elderly or living alone.
Her husband, Yurii Karapetian, said she was distributing bread when the bombs struck the shelter.
The destruction has left surviving residents with limited access to assistance in a community already devastated by years of fighting.
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, approximately 5,000 people lived in Komyshuvakha. By November 2026, the population had fallen to roughly 500, according to regional officials.
More than 60% of residential and commercial buildings in the community have been destroyed, and many remaining residents face difficulties evacuating because of age, disability or continued Russian attacks.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has maintained that its Nov. 2 bombing targeted Ukrainian military units operating near Komyshuvakha and neighboring settlements. Moscow claimed that up to 25 Ukrainian service members were killed and that military equipment was destroyed.
The ministry did not provide independently verifiable evidence supporting those claims.
Ukrainian officials have rejected the characterization of the humanitarian center as a military target, maintaining that civilians were receiving food and shelter when the bombs struck.
The latest attacks also come as Washington prepares to host another round of diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the conflict, which has continued for more than four and a half years.
According to Reuters reporting on the humanitarian center bombing, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff announced that Russian and Ukrainian delegations would meet in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10-11 to discuss ending the war, postwar security arrangements and measures to reduce hostilities.
The talks follow a limited ceasefire negotiated to permit civilian evacuations from the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in neighboring Kherson.
That agreement, brokered with the involvement of U.S. first lady Melania Trump, allowed nearly 800 people to leave the area, according to the first lady.
The ceasefire expired shortly before the Nov. 2 bombing of Komyshuvakha.
Zelenskyy has accused Russia of intensifying attacks on civilian infrastructure to increase pressure on Ukraine ahead of the negotiations.
Moscow has not publicly acknowledged such a strategy.
The renewed strikes have also raised concerns about the security of Ukraine’s nuclear infrastructure. The Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lost external electricity after a damaged power line was disconnected, requiring the facility to rely on backup diesel generators, according to additional Associated Press reporting Sunday.
Reliable external electricity is necessary to operate essential safety and cooling systems at nuclear facilities, making prolonged outages a serious concern.
With repair crews working across multiple regions and rescue teams still recovering victims in Komyshuvakha, Ukraine faces simultaneous challenges restoring essential services and protecting civilians near the front line.
The immediate priority for energy authorities is restoring electricity and heating before temperatures fall further, while emergency personnel in Zaporizhzhia continue searching the wreckage for dozens of people whose whereabouts remain unknown.
The attacks underscore the continuing risks to Ukraine’s civilian population and infrastructure as the two countries prepare for another round of diplomatic negotiations without a broader ceasefire in place.
Original article
Comments