Smoke rises over Kiev after Russia attacks the city with missiles and drones on September 30, 2026, during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A barrage of Russian attacks in and around Ukraine’s capital on September 30 killed four people, damaged the city’s energy infrastructure and caused power outages, authorities said.
Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images
Russia has launched a widely expected attack on Ukraine’s power grid, hitting key facilities in Kiev and major cities across the country, in one of the largest energy attacks in recent months.
Ukrainian officials and national security experts are warning of possible Russian air operations against energy infrastructure ahead of winter, fearing another extremely difficult cold spell as the country faces a severe air defense shortage.
Seven people were killed in the latest attack, officials said Wednesday, and state power company Ukrenergo imposed an emergency power outage in Kiev and three other regions. Subzero temperatures are expected in the Ukrainian capital at night for the next few days.
“Russia has launched a large-scale attack on energy infrastructure,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky said on Telegram on Wednesday.
“Since the summer, there has been hardly a day when the enemy did not attack energy infrastructure. But this is the first time since the end of last heating season that such a large-scale and complex attack has occurred,” Koretsky said, according to a translation.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that it carried out “massive attacks” using ground-based precision weapons and attack drones against communications centers in Kiev, energy systems facilities in Ukraine, and port infrastructure in Izmail in the southwestern Odessa region.
The ministry announced in late August that it was preparing to shell Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as part of Russia’s response to attacks on Ukrainian fuel and energy facilities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned Russian President Vladimir Putin at the United Nations General Assembly last week that the Kiev winter would be very painful for Russia unless the two countries agreed to an energy ceasefire.
President Zelensky said on September 23: “Ukrainians understand that this winter can be a very harsh winter for us. But accordingly, it can only be a harsh winter for Russia as well.”
US President Donald Trump claimed that Russia and Moscow agreed last month to halt attacks on energy facilities, but the two countries quickly clarified that a formal agreement had not yet been finalized.
Trump has also previously called on Zelensky to stop targeting Russian refineries, saying the attacks are “hurting the world” as fuel supply disruptions continue to push up U.S. diesel prices.
