kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – New Russian strikes overnight from Saturday to Sunday against energy infrastructure in Ukraine deprived hundreds of thousands of users of electricity in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv, the authorities and the Ukrainian energy supplier announced on Sunday.
Published on: 08/11/2026 - 12:20 Modified on: 08/11/2026 - 12:23
Ukraine is preparing to face another particularly harsh winter of war, while Russia intensifies its daily aerial bombardments, raining drones and missiles on the power grid.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region (center), "more than 600,000 residents found themselves without electricity", announced the Ukrainian operator DTEK on Telegram after "nighttime attacks which damaged important energy installations".
Efforts to restore the network have been "complicated by repeated attacks", she said.
In another attack, a Russian drone hit "a critical facility" in the northeastern Kharkiv region, the mayor of the town of Zlatopil, Mykola Baksheyev, announced on social media.
“Nearly 250,000 users in the Kharkiv region were deprived of electricity,” he said. Repair work is underway.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said the nighttime strikes had caused "vast power outages across the country."
“In the Zhytomyr region alone, 140 apartment buildings were left without heating following a Russian strike,” he said on social networks, while temperatures in Ukraine were already close to freezing point.
He also said Russia launched a drone into Komyshuvakha, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region where Moscow struck an aid distribution center in one of the deadliest attacks of the war.
The death toll rose to 55, Zelensky said on Sunday. The emergency services had previously put it at 50 deaths.
“This morning, the Russians attacked Komyshuvakha with an FPV drone, while emergency rescue operations have been underway for seven days… Unfortunately, more people may still be under the rubble,” Zelensky said.
Energy infrastructure in five regions of Ukraine, including Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv, have already been the target of massive Russian strikes overnight from Friday to Saturday, leading to power outages.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced a means of “pressure” used by Moscow before the resumption of trilateral negotiations expected next week.
© 2026 AFP
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