At least 600,000 people across Ukraine were without electricity on Wednesday after overnight Russian missile and drone strikes, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. He said “critical” energy infrastructure had been hit in Kyiv and the capital region, and in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv. The attack came three days after President Donald Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine.
What Zelensky said
Zelensky said on social media that it was a targeted Russian ballistic missile strike against energy infrastructure, “the very infrastructure covered by the ceasefire announced by the American President.” He warned that the outages could become more widespread. Ukrainian reports citing Zelensky said around 30 energy facilities were damaged.
Casualties in Kyiv
In Kyiv, at least three people were killed and 21 injured, according to Ukraine’s state emergencies service, DSNS. Rescuers worked at the site of an air strike on a residential building in the capital. The figures may change as rescue operations continue.
Scale of the attack
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 39 ballistic and cruise missiles and 128 drones overnight. It said four of those missiles and 115 of the drones were shot down.
Moscow’s version
Russia’s defense ministry said its “massive” strikes targeted communications and energy facilities in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions that were used by Ukraine’s military. It also said air defenses shot down 902 Ukrainian drones overnight over several Russian regions, including Moscow and Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed in 2014. Ukraine did not immediately comment on that figure.
Lavrov rejects a truce
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Ukraine does not deserve the “respite” that a ceasefire would bring. He argued that under any truce, Europe would be able to “pump” Ukraine with new weapons so that it could keep fighting. Zelensky has repeatedly said Ukraine is ready to stop striking Russian oil refineries and other energy facilities if Moscow does the same.
How the “energy ceasefire” unraveled
On Sunday, Trump wrote on social media that an energy ceasefire was effective immediately and that both sides had agreed. Ukraine said it had not been consulted, and hours later Russia struck a power plant in Kharkiv. On Monday, Zelensky told a security forum in Warsaw that Putin “does not read Truth Social,” and that Ukraine would respond if Russia did not agree to a ceasefire this winter. Wednesday’s strikes came three days after the announcement. Russia has not said it accepted any truce, and the White House has not published its terms.
Background
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory. With winter approaching, attacks on power plants and grids raise the risk of blackouts and loss of heating for millions of civilians.
