More than a million Ukrainians faced power outages on Thursday after Russia launched a large-scale assault on the country’s energy infrastructure. Several regions were plunged into darkness as winter conditions worsened.
This marks the second major attack on Ukraine’s energy sector this month, causing significant disruptions at a time when temperatures are dropping to freezing levels. Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko confirmed the strikes, stating, “Energy infrastructure is once again targeted by the enemy’s massive strike.” In response, the national grid operator Ukrenergo implemented emergency power cuts.
The strikes affected multiple regions, including Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk, according to Ukraine’s leading private power company, DTEK. In the western Rivne region, Governor Oleksandr Koval reported that 280,000 residents were left without power. Meanwhile, Lutsk’s mayor noted that power outages followed several strikes, but efforts are underway to connect water and heating systems to alternative power sources.
The attacks come as temperatures drop to 0°C (32°F) across many Ukrainian cities. A senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, recently warned that Russian strikes on energy facilities could make this winter the “harshest since the start of the war” nearly three years ago.
In addition to the energy assaults, Russia’s defense ministry claimed to have destroyed 25 Ukrainian drones overnight in four regions, including Crimea. Meanwhile, Ukraine reported successfully intercepting 79 missiles and 35 drones during the same period.
As the conflict intensifies and winter sets in, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate, with energy shortages threatening to exacerbate the crisis.
