Russian strikes leave hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian families without power

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the overnight attacks on 1 November struck energy infrastructure in Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr and Khmelnytskyi. Hundreds of thousands of families remained without electricity when he made his statement, he said.

In Dnipropetrovsk, the regional administration said crews had nearly completed repairs from earlier attacks when new strikes caused further outages. Almost 100,000 customers in three districts were without power that morning. By early evening, more than 60,000 customers across the region still had no electricity, the BBC reported, citing the governor.

Russia had also struck Ukrainian energy facilities in a major attack at the end of September. Zelensky called for faster deliveries of air-defence missiles from Ukraine’s partners.

The latest strikes came during a local humanitarian ceasefire in the southern Kherson region, which allowed civilians to leave the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky. The pause, which began on 27 October, was due to end at 22:59 Ukrainian time on 1 November. Fighting and air attacks continued elsewhere in Ukraine during the truce.

The UN World Food Programme said it was providing emergency food assistance in Kyiv to more than 400 people who had left Oleshky. Many had arrived at medical facilities on 31 October after months of shortages of food and medical supplies, the agency said.