Russia hits Kyiv-area energy sites in first mass winter-style strike

Russian drone and missile attacks hit energy infrastructure in Kyiv and nearby areas on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said, in what they described as a prelude to another winter campaign against the power system, Reuters reported.

Massive combined strike

“Russia has escalated to massive strikes on energy infrastructure,” Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said on Telegram, adding that facilities in other regions were also hit. He said a combined strike of this scale had not occurred since the end of the previous heating season. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said energy infrastructure in the capital and surrounding region was the main target of an overnight attack involving nearly 190 drones and ballistic missiles. Five people, including a child, were killed across Ukraine, he said.

Ukraine’s air force said five missiles and 155 drones were intercepted. Power company DTEK did not detail the damage in Kyiv but said workers had restored supply to 8,000 households. Russia said it had hit a data centre in the capital supporting Ukraine’s armed forces, power plants in the Kyiv region, an industrial complex in Odesa region and port infrastructure in Izmail.

Regional spillover

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko cited preliminary information that debris was found at a Western embassy in central Kyiv; he did not name the mission. A drone crossed into Moldova and exploded near Hirbovet, while Romania and Poland scrambled jets; flights at Poland’s Lublin and Rzeszow airports were temporarily suspended, Reuters said. Zelenskiy thanked allies for recent air-defence deliveries and called for more protection ahead of winter.