Ukraine War30 September, 20262 min read
Russia Strikes Kyiv Region Power Grid, Killing At Least Four Including A Child
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Four people killed, including a child, in Kyiv region overnight Russian strikes. Strikes targeted energy facilities, damaging the power grid and cutting electricity around Kyiv.
Kyiv power hit
Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Kyiv region killed at least four people, including a child, and targeted energy facilities that damaged the power grid and disrupted electricity supplies, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Russian forces also struck power infrastructure in the Kyiv region, and DTEK said crews restored electricity to about 8,000 households after the attacks. Ukrainian officials reported damage to homes, businesses, warehouses and vehicles, while Kyiv was under air alerts for much of the night as missiles and drones approached the city.
Russian strikes also hit critical infrastructure in the Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad and Rivne regions, Zelenskyy said. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its overnight operation used missiles and drones and included attacks on energy facilities in the Kyiv region that it said were connected to Ukrainian military production.
Largest since heating season
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi said Russia launched the largest attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the spring, and he said at least five people were killed in overnight attacks across the country, including a child in the Kyiv region. Koretskyi wrote on Telegram that "such a large-scale combined attack has occurred for the first time since the end of the last heating season," and he said the strikes impacted power supplies with DTEK saying power to 8,000 homes had been restored following "a difficult night" for the capital. The Russian defence ministry said one of its targets was the Trypilska power station, the largest supplier of electricity to Kyiv, and the operator confirmed damage to the plant.
Ukrenergo advised residents not to use powerful electrical appliances between the hours of 10:00 and 16:00 local time as electricity supplies were lower than usual, and Kyiv residents woke to a city blanketed by thick, acrid smoke after a night punctuated by explosions. Russia’s military said it intercepted more than 380 Ukrainian drones overnight over a number of regions, while Ukraine’s military said it had struck a number of Russian military targets, including a drone warehouse in the occupied Donetsk region.
Winter pressure and fallout
Ukraine’s officials framed the strikes as pressure ahead of winter, with the BBC saying Ukraine had been expecting another protracted Russian assault on the country’s energy grid and that it had happened every winter since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. Russia’s attacks last winter cut light and heating when temperatures fell to as low as -20C, and the prospect of a repeat left many in Kyiv considering whether to stay, according to the Bangkok Post. Zelenskyy said critical infrastructure was also struck in the Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad and Rivne regions, and he said the overnight barrage into Wednesday targeted energy facilities.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described Wednesday’s attack as a "deliberate" distraction from Russia’s battlefield offensive in eastern Ukraine, and he said Moscow was increasing pressure on Ukrainian civilians as winter approaches. Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Wednesday there was a critical shortage of urban shelters, describing the civil-defence system as having "completely failed," as Russia’s barrage also triggered a more than 12-hour air-raid alert.