Massive Russian attack on Ukraine energy sector prompts sharp Zelenskyy rebuke and call for more help from allies

Kyiv, Ukraine — Russian drone and missile strikes overnight Friday caused blackouts across large swaths of Ukraine, damaged residential buildings and injured at least 20 people in Kyiv, authorities said. A child was killed in attacks in the southeast of the country.

In the heart of the Ukrainian capital, rescue crews pulled more than 20 people out of a 17-story apartment building as flames engulfed the sixth and seventh floors. Five people were hospitalized, while others received first aid at the scene, authorities said.

The Russian “cynical and calculated” strikes targeted civilian and energy infrastructure as Ukraine prepared for falling winter temperatures, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.

Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko also described the attack as “one of the largest concentrated strikes” against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure of the war that began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine’s air force said Friday that the latest Russian barrage included 465 strike and decoy drones, as well as 32 missiles of various types. Air defenses intercepted or jammed 405 drones and 15 missiles, it said.  

Zelenskyy wrote that parts of nine regions of the country were hit with blackouts.

“It is precisely the civilian and energy infrastructure that is the main target of Russia’s strikes ahead of the heating season,” he said.

“Together, we can protect people from this terror. What’s needed is not window dressing but decisive action – from the United States, Europe, and the G7 – in delivering air defense systems and enforcing sanctions. We count on a response to this brutality from the G20 and from all those who speak of peace in their statements yet refrain from taking real steps.

“The world can defend itself against these crimes – and doing so will undoubtedly strengthen global security.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Friday’s attack knocked out power on both sides of the city, divided by the Dnipro River, while Ukraine’s biggest electricity operator, DTEK, said repair work was already underway on multiple damaged thermal plants.

The energy sector has been a key battleground since the war started.

Each year, Russia has tried to cripple the Ukrainian power grid before the bitter winter season, hoping to erode public morale. Ukraine’s winter runs from late October through March, with January and February the coldest months.

In the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, residential areas and energy sites were pounded with attack drones, missiles and guided bombs, killing a 7-year-old boy and wounding his parents and others, military administration officials said. A hydroelectric plant in the area was taken offline as a precaution, they said.

Separately, the Reuters news service notes, Ukraine’s top general said Ukraine struck Russian territory 70 times last month.

“We are destroying the production of fuels and lubricants, explosives, and other components of the Russian military-industrial complex in the aggressor country,” Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote on Facebook.