Another massive attack on Ukraine energy grid forces wide outages

KYIV — Russia launched another massive attack against Ukraine with drones and missiles early Thursday, targeting the power grid across the country, including western regions close to the border with the European Union.

The Ukrainian air force said most of the missiles were headed to Ukraine’s western regions of Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr. Local authorities reported attacks on energy infrastructure in Kyiv and Mykolaiv, too.

“The energy sector is under massive enemy attack again. Attacks on energy facilities are taking place throughout Ukraine,” Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said in a statement. “The transmission system operator, NPP Ukrenergo, has urgently introduced emergency power outages.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a total of about 100 drones and more than 90 missiles of various types were launched.

“Several regions reported Kalibr missile strikes with cluster munitions, deliberately aimed at civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. “The use of these cluster elements significantly complicates the work of our rescuers and power engineers in mitigating the damage, marking yet another vile escalation in Russia’s terrorist tactics.”

The capital of Kyiv was under attack starting around midnight, first by drones and then by missiles.

“Air defense shot down all of them during the fight, but debris fell in two districts of Kyiv, damaged vehicles and an enterprise premises,” Serhiy Popko, Kyiv military administration head, said in a statement.

In Vinnytsia, several residential buildings were damaged, and a woman was injured, local authorities reported. In the nearby Ivano-Frankivsk region, Russian missiles targeted critical infrastructure including energy facilities, damaging several residential buildings. One man was injured in Odesa.

In the Volyn region, bordering Poland, the local governor reported several Russian strikes. “Unfortunately, during the massive enemy strike, Volyn was also affected. We recorded several hits in the region. Emergency power outages have also been introduced,” Governor Ivan Rudnytskyi said.

The latest attack on western Ukraine happened two days after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha visited Warsaw, where he once again called on Poland and other allies to help Ukraine shoot down missiles over regions bordering the EU.

“Russia is brutally attacking our cities, our infrastructure, our civilians every day. We need more protection for our people. We need immediate, bold decisions,” Sybiha said during a meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.