Russian strikes leave more than 850,000 Ukrainians without power; repeated strike on Komyshuvakha

Massive power outages

Overnight Russian strikes on Ukraine left more than 850,000 people without electricity, Euronews reports citing Ukrainian authorities and the energy company DTEK. The company announced a 'massive attack' on the energy sector with strikes on key facilities in Dnipropetrovsk region: more than 600,000 residents of the Pavlohrad, Samar, Kamianske and Dnipro districts, as well as the city of Dnipro itself, were left without power. Authorities later reported a gradual restoration of electricity supply in the region.

Kharkiv, Zhytomyr and casualties in Dnipro

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced large-scale outages across the country, including in Kharkiv region in the northeast and Zhytomyr region in the northwest, where, according to him, 140 apartment buildings were left without heating after a Russian strike. Local authorities in Kharkiv reported that the outage affected about 250,000 consumers in the region, but the power supply has already been restored. In Dnipro itself, as a result of a strike on a residential area on Sunday, one person was killed and three were injured, according to the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Hanzha; a fire broke out, at least one private house was destroyed, and, as he noted, people may be under the rubble.

Repeated strike on Komyshuvakha

On Sunday morning, Zelensky reported that Russia struck with a drone the site of a recent attack in Komyshuvakha, where rescuers were continuing search operations after Monday's bombing that killed at least 55 people. 'Unfortunately, people may still be under the rubble. Absolute cynicism and cruelty,' he wrote on X. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said the strike on rescuers was 'deliberate,' but no one was hurt. According to Kyiv, Monday's strikes hit a school used for humanitarian purposes and followed a rare local ceasefire that allowed the evacuation of residents from the Russian-occupied Alyoshky in Kherson region.

Context: escalation ahead of talks

According to Zelensky, over the past week Russian forces fired 115 missiles, nearly 1,900 guided aerial bombs and more than 3,000 attack drones at Ukraine. Euronews notes that Russia is stepping up attacks on energy infrastructure as winter approaches, exploiting Kyiv's shortage of interceptor missiles. Zelensky himself accused the Kremlin of intensifying strikes in order to pressure Ukraine's negotiating position ahead of the planned trilateral talks between Kyiv, Moscow and Washington in Abu Dhabi.