More than one million households across Ukraine were left without electricity after a wave of overnight Russian missile and drone strikes hit key energy and industrial facilities, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
The attacks struck at least five regions, injuring several people and triggering large-scale power outages as temperatures drop and winter approaches, underscoring renewed pressure on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the strikes damaged infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Chernihiv regions, leaving emergency services battling fires and working to restore electricity.
“At least five people were injured,” Klymenko said, adding that firefighters and repair crews were deployed overnight to stabilize affected sites and reconnect power supplies.
Ukraine’s power grid operator reported that a “significant number” of homes in the southern regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv were without electricity, while Ukrainian-controlled areas of the frontline Kherson region were completely cut off.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched more than 450 drones and over 30 missiles in the overnight assault, marking one of the most intense barrages in recent weeks.
Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed it carried out strikes on Ukrainian energy and military-industrial facilities, stating that advanced weapons were used, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, which are difficult to intercept because they can change trajectory mid-flight.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant—located in Russian-controlled territory—temporarily lost all offsite power due to the attacks on the electrical grid.
Although the facility is not currently generating electricity, it requires a continuous external power supply to cool its reactors. The IAEA said external power was later restored, reducing immediate safety risks.
In Russia, Saratov region governor Roman Busargin said two people were killed after a Ukrainian drone strike hit a residential building, highlighting the growing cross-border impact of the conflict.
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The strikes come as U.S. President Donald Trump’s overseas envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel to Germany this weekend to meet President Zelensky and European leaders.
According to officials, Witkoff will discuss the latest proposals aimed at ending the war, as Washington intensifies diplomatic efforts amid escalating military pressure on Ukraine’s infrastructure.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy system since its full-scale invasion in 2022, causing rolling blackouts nationwide. Ukrainian officials say the renewed intensity of strikes signals a strategy to weaken civilian resilience as winter sets in.
Repair work continues across affected regions, though authorities warned that restoring full power could take time depending on the extent of the damage.