Ukraine struggles to restore power after massive Russian drone assault

• Around 100,000 people in Kharkiv region remain without electricity, water, or heating.
• Ukraine calls the latest Russian strikes one of the hardest nights for its energy grid since 2022.
• Russia claims its targets were military-linked energy sites.
• Ukrainian counterstrikes have also caused blackouts in several Russian border regions

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are still facing blackouts after Russia carried out one of its largest waves of attacks on Ukraine’s energy network in months.

The strikes, which hit multiple regions overnight into Saturday, left roughly 100,000 residents in the northeastern Kharkiv region without electricity, heating, or running water, officials said Sunday.

“Time is needed to restart the equipment. Currently, around 100,000 consumers remain without electricity, water, and heating,” Ukraine’s Minister of Restoration, Oleksiy Kuleba, said.

According to Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk, the bombardment, which killed four people, marked “one of the most difficult nights” for Ukraine’s power system since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.

In Poltava, one of the hardest-hit regions, power was largely restored by Sunday afternoon, though local authorities said several neighborhoods remained in the dark due to damaged transformers. To stabilize the grid, Ukraine’s state energy operator Ukrenergo introduced rolling blackouts across multiple regions.

Deputy Energy Minister Artem Nekrasov said Moscow has shifted tactics by targeting not only generation facilities but also the transmission and distribution systems that connect them. “This complicates the prompt restoration of normal power supply and the normal operation of the energy system,” he explained.

Russia’s defense ministry said it had targeted “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and gas and energy facilities that support their operation.” Ukraine, in turn, launched strikes on Russian energy sites, which local officials said caused widespread outages in border areas.

In Russia’s Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported “severe damage” to electricity and heating infrastructure, leaving more than 20,000 residents without power. Fires also broke out at energy facilities in the Kursk and Voronezh regions, according to local governors.

Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 34 out of 69 drones launched overnight, while Russia claimed to have downed 44 Ukrainian drones over its own territory.

As both countries escalate attacks on each other’s energy networks, millions on both sides are bracing for another winter under the threat of darkness and freezing temperatures.