Russian strikes damage Ukraine’s power network and disrupt supplies to Kyiv

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the overnight attack targeted substations connecting the Rivne and Khmelnytsky nuclear power plants to Kyiv and central Ukraine. The damage was to the electricity network, rather than the plants themselves.

Ukraine’s energy ministry said customers in five regions were without power on Saturday morning: Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Kharkiv. Some had since been reconnected, it said, according to the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform. The ministry warned that restoring damaged equipment would take time.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, initially described a very difficult situation for the capital’s electricity, heating and water services. In a later update, he said the city’s water system was operating normally and that 60% of its apartment buildings had been connected to heating, with work continuing.

Zelensky said Russia had launched 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles, with all the missiles directed at Kyiv and its surrounding region. Residential buildings, a kindergarten and the city’s Northern Bridge were damaged, he said. Reuters reported that at least two people were killed and around a dozen wounded across Ukraine, citing authorities.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had carried out a large-scale strike on targets it described as connected to Ukraine’s military industry, as well as energy and transport infrastructure around Kyiv, Reuters reported.

The attack comes before Ukrainian and Russian delegations are due to take part in US-backed trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi next week. Ukrainian officials said repairs were continuing where the security situation allowed.