Kiev (Ukraine) (AFP) - Russian strikes targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure caused power outages to hundreds of thousands of homes in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions, authorities and an energy supply company announced Sunday.
Published on: 08/11/2026 - 10:47 Last updated: 08/11/2026 - 12:18
Moscow is intensifying its daily attacks using drones and missiles to target electricity networks, which raises Ukrainians’ fear of spending a new harsh winter that will witness power and heating outages, in light of the war that Russia began in February 2022.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region in the center of the country, the energy supplier DTEK announced via Telegram that “more than 600,000 residents of the region were cut off from electricity” after a “night attack caused damage to vital energy facilities.”
The company explained that it is working to restore power, but the task is "complicated by repeated attacks."
In another attack, a Russian drone hit a “vital infrastructure facility” in the Kharkiv region in the northeast of the country, according to the mayor of the city of Zlatopil, Mykola Baksheev, on social media.
He explained that "about 250,000 subscribers in the Kharkiv region were cut off from electricity," noting that repairs had begun, but "the exact date for the return of electricity supply is still unknown."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of intensifying its strikes to pressure Kiev ahead of tripartite US-brokered talks scheduled in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Zelensky said the overnight strikes caused "widespread power outages across the country."
He added, "In the Zhytomir region alone, heating was cut off in 140 residential buildings following a Russian strike," at a time when temperatures in Ukraine were approaching zero.
He also pointed out that Russia launched a drone towards Kumichovakha, a village in the Zaporizhya region, where Moscow targeted an aid distribution center on Monday, in one of the bloodiest attacks since the outbreak of the war.
Zelensky revealed that the death toll had risen to 55 people, after emergency services had previously announced the death of 50 people. He added, "This morning, the Russians attacked Kumichovakha with an FPV drone, where search and rescue operations have been continuing for seven days... Unfortunately, there may be more people under the rubble."
The new strikes came the day after the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy announced that a large-scale attack on vital facilities caused a power outage to residents of five regions, and greatly hindered power transmission in Kiev.
Russia has been targeting the Ukrainian energy network and infrastructure throughout the war, but its impact becomes more painful as winter approaches, in light of the extreme cold and temperatures near zero.
© 2026 AFP
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