KYIV, UKRAINE — Ukraine scrambles to restore electricity, heating, and water supplies after a devastating wave of Russian missile and drone strikes crippled its energy infrastructure over the weekend. The country’s national power provider, Centrenergo, reported that its generating capacity had been reduced to “zero” following what officials described as one of the most severe assaults on Ukraine’s energy grid since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
According to Ukrainian authorities, Moscow launched hundreds of drones and missiles overnight into Saturday, targeting key energy facilities across the country. The relentless bombardment caused widespread blackouts and heating failures in multiple regions, including Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, and Sumy.
“An unprecedented number of missiles and countless drones — several per minute — targeted the same thermal power plants that we had restored after the devastating attack of 2024,” Centrenergo said in a statement. The company described the attacks as “strategically coordinated and designed to collapse the national grid.”
The damage has forced Ukraine’s state power transmission operator, Ukrenergo, to impose emergency rolling blackouts lasting between eight and 16 hours per day in most regions. These outages are expected to continue through the coming week as engineers work around the clock to repair substations, reroute transmission lines, and restore essential power supplies.
Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk called it “one of the most difficult nights of the entire full-scale war,” noting that the latest barrage caused “catastrophic damage” to the country’s already fragile energy infrastructure.
Ukraine Scrambles as Russian Missiles Hit Key Energy Facilities
Officials said the strikes targeted critical power generation sites and transmission hubs, including two nuclear power substations in western Ukraine. The substations, which supply electricity to the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear plants, came under attack from Russian drones that penetrated deep into Ukrainian airspace.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the attacks, calling them “an assault on European nuclear safety.” He urged the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to convene an emergency meeting to address what he described as a deliberate act of nuclear sabotage.
“Russia is deliberately endangering nuclear safety in Europe,” Sybiha said on Telegram late Saturday. “We call for an urgent meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors to respond to these unacceptable risks.”
The two nuclear facilities, located about 120 kilometres from Lutsk and 95 kilometres from Rivne, were not directly hit, but their supporting infrastructure sustained damage. As a result, several surrounding cities experienced temporary power disruptions.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported intercepting many of the incoming projectiles, but officials admitted that several ballistic missiles successfully struck their targets. “The enemy inflicted a massive strike with ballistic missiles, which are extremely difficult to shoot down,” Grynchuk explained in a televised address. “It is hard to recall such a number of direct strikes on energy facilities since the beginning of the invasion.”
Air raid alerts sounded throughout the night as residents sought shelter in basements and metro stations. In Kyiv, emergency crews worked to restore heat and water to residential districts after a thermal plant was temporarily knocked offline. In Kharkiv, several hospitals were forced to rely on backup generators.
Local authorities have urged citizens to conserve energy wherever possible, avoiding high-consumption activities such as using electric heaters, washing machines, and stoves during peak hours.
The international community reacted swiftly to the latest escalation. The European Union, United States, and United Kingdom condemned Russia’s ongoing attacks on civilian infrastructure, calling them “war crimes” under international law.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the attacks were “a deliberate attempt to terrorize civilians during winter.” He reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to supporting Ukraine’s energy security, including emergency deliveries of transformers, generators, and heating equipment.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department announced it would coordinate with the G7 to provide additional funding for Ukraine’s Energy Resilience Fund, which has been helping rebuild the country’s damaged power grid since 2023.
Despite the immense destruction, Ukrainian officials vowed that the nation would persevere. “We will rebuild again, no matter how many times they try to destroy us,” Grynchuk said. “Our engineers are heroes. They are already repairing the lines under shelling.”
Citizens across Ukraine have also shown resilience, volunteering to distribute power banks, warm blankets, and portable heaters to those most affected by the outages.
In Kyiv, local cafes equipped with backup generators have opened their doors as “warming centers” for residents without power. “Every time they try to break us, we come together stronger,” said Olha, a volunteer handing out tea to families sheltering in the city’s metro.
As Ukraine scrambles to repair its shattered infrastructure, the country remains defiant — determined to keep the lights on, both literally and symbolically, in the face of relentless aggression.
Source- EWN
