A Russian strike on Ukraine’s energy network has left two people dead and caused power outages across several regions, according to Ukrainian officials.
Moscow has intensified its assaults on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent months, damaging key gas facilities that provide much of the country’s heating supply, reports RTE.
Experts have warned that Ukraine could face heating shortages as winter approaches.
“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, reports RTE.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 458 drones and 45 missiles overnight, claiming to have intercepted 406 drones and nine missiles.
A drone attack on the eastern city of Dnipro tore through a nine-storey apartment building, killing two people and injuring six others, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said, reports RTE.
The strikes forced emergency power outages and disrupted water services in the northern city of Kharkiv, where the mayor reported a “noticeable shortage of electricity.”
In Kremenchuk, in the eastern Poltava region, authorities said there was no electricity or water and only partial heating available, reports RTE.
Train services also faced major delays, with Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba accusing Russia of intensifying attacks 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,” Ms Svyrydenko said, reports RTE.
Since the start of its nearly four-year invasion, Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power and heating systems, destroying large portions of critical civilian infrastructure.
In Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, drones also struck energy facilities late Friday, regional governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram, reports RTE.
“There was damage to an energy infrastructure facility,” he said, reporting no dead or wounded, reports RTE.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had targeted “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and gas and energy facilities that support their operation,” reports RTE.
The continued attacks on energy sites have heightened fears of widespread heating failures in Ukraine as the conflict heads into its fourth winter.
A report by Kyiv’s School of Economics estimated that the strikes have shut down about half of Ukraine’s natural gas production, reports RTE.
Ukraine’s leading energy analyst, Oleksandr Kharchenko, warned during a media briefing on Wednesday that if Kyiv’s two main power and heating plants were offline for more than three days during temperatures below -10C, the capital could face a “technological disaster,” reports RTE.
Ukraine has also ramped up its own strikes on Russian oil refineries and depots in recent months, aiming to disrupt Moscow’s key energy exports and spark fuel shortages across Russia.
Drone attacks last night on energy sites in Russia’s southern Volgograd region caused local power outages, regional governor Andrei Botcharov said on Telegram, reports RTE.
Russia said its forces continue to advance in ongoing battles near the key towns of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk and have captured a small village in eastern Ukraine.
According to the Defence Ministry, Russian troops took control of Vovche, a settlement in the southeastern part of the Dnipropetrovsk region, reports RTE.
Ukrainian census data shows the village had a population of just 13 people in 2001.
In the Donetsk region, Russia said it is continuing to gain ground through close-quarters fighting in the strategic town of Pokrovsk and nearby Myrnohrad, reports RTE.
Moscow, which refers to the towns by their Soviet-era names of Krasnoarmeisk and Dmitrov, claimed that both are now encircled.
The ministry also said its forces are pushing forward in Kupiansk, in the Kharkiv region, where it claimed Ukrainian units have been surrounded, reports RTE.
Ukraine has acknowledged that the situation in Pokrovsk — where fighting has persisted for more than a year — remains challenging but insists its forces are still holding out in all three towns.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield claims, reports RTE.
DeepState, a Ukrainian open-source mapping project of the front line, indicated that Russia has made some advances around Pokrovsk and Kupiansk but has not succeeded in cutting off Ukrainian troops in either location.
This follows reports that three Ukrainian drones struck an electricity substation in Russia’s northern Vologda region overnight, regional governor Georgy Filimonov said, reports RTE.
While the extent of the damage is still being assessed, Mr Filimonov noted in a Telegram post that electricity supply across the region — located north of Moscow and roughly 1,900 km from Ukraine — remains stable.
Elsewhere, two people were injured when a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building in the Russian city of Saratov, local governor Roman Busargin said in a Telegram statement, reports RTE.
Saratov, an industrial centre along the Volga River about 625 km from the Ukrainian border, has been struck repeatedly by Ukrainian drones since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
By contrast, the more remote Vologda region has rarely been the target of Ukrainian attacks, reports RTE.
In total, Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had shot down 83 drones overnight, most of them over regions near the Ukrainian border, reports RTE.
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