Russian Strikes Cut Power to 850,000 in Ukraine Ahead of Abu Dhabi Talks
Russian overnight strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure left more than 850,000 people without electricity on Sunday, as Moscow intensified its campaign against the power grid days before US-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi.
Power company DTEK said more than 600,000 residents of the central Dnipropetrovsk region were left without power after a night attack damaged important energy facilities. In the north-eastern Kharkiv region, nearly 250,000 customers lost electricity after a drone struck critical infrastructure, according to local officials. AFP reported that repair crews were already working to restore supply despite continued shelling complicating their efforts.
More than 600,000 without power in Dnipropetrovsk
The Dnipropetrovsk region, a key industrial centre close to active combat zones, bore the brunt of the overnight attack. DTEK said residents of the Pavlohrad, Samarivskyi and Kamianske districts, the city of Dnipro and surrounding areas faced outages on Sunday.
Regional military chief Oleksandr Hanzha said hospitals had been forced to switch to diesel generators and that electric-powered public transport had ground to a halt in the regional capital, Dnipro. In Kharkiv, Zlatopil Mayor Mykola Baksheyev said a Russian drone had struck critical infrastructure, leaving nearly 250,000 customers without power.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the night-time strikes had triggered “widespread power outages across the country”. In the Zhytomyr region alone, he said, 140 apartment buildings were left without heating following a Russian strike, as temperatures in Ukraine already hovered around freezing.
A country-wide blackout campaign
The overnight strikes followed a separate large-scale attack a day earlier. Ukraine’s energy ministry said on Saturday that a massive attack on energy facilities had plunged residents in five regions into darkness and significantly hampered electricity transmission in Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said Russian attacks on Saturday had involved 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles targeting 12 regions, hitting substations linking the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants to Kyiv and central Ukraine. Ukraine’s military said its forces shot down 137 of 164 Russian attack drones launched overnight.
Saturday’s missile barrage on the Kyiv region came days before the Abu Dhabi talks, and Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that its forces would keep striking Ukrainian fuel and energy infrastructure.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, lost its external electricity supply overnight, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Power was later restored to the Russian-occupied site, Ukraine’s nuclear power company Energoatom said late on Sunday.
Aid centre struck again as toll rises
In a separate strike on Sunday morning, a Russian FPV drone hit Komyshuvakha, the village in the Zaporizhzhia region where an aid distribution centre struck on Monday remains the focus of a rescue operation now in its seventh day.
Zelenskyy said the death toll from Monday’s attack had risen to 55 people. Emergency services had previously put the figure at 50 killed. “This morning, the Russians attacked Komyshuvakha with an FPV drone, where emergency rescue operations have been underway for seven days … Unfortunately, more people may still be under the rubble,” he said.
Pressure ahead of Abu Dhabi
Zelenskyy has accused Russia of intensifying strikes to put pressure on Kyiv at the US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. RFE/RL reported that the attacks continued late on Sunday and into Monday morning, with emergency crews still working to restore electricity to some 600,000 people in Dnipropetrovsk.
In the same CBS “60 Minutes” interview broadcast on Sunday, President Donald Trump suggested Kyiv may have to cede territory in any US-brokered peace deal, RFE/RL reported. Zelenskyy has previously said Ukraine wants to freeze the conflict rather than surrender land.
What happens next
Repair work is under way in virtually every affected city and community, Zelenskyy said, but repeated attacks are complicating the effort and Ukraine is bracing for a harsh new winter of war, with Russia raining down drones and missiles on the power network almost daily.
Attention now turns to Abu Dhabi, where Ukrainian and Russian delegations are due to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, with France also joining the talks. Whether the strikes ease once negotiators sit down remains to be seen — Moscow has given no sign of letting up.
Frequently asked questions
How many people lost power in the strikes?
More than 600,000 residents in the Dnipropetrovsk region and nearly 250,000 customers in the Kharkiv region — over 850,000 in total — according to DTEK and local officials. Outages were also reported in other regions, including Zhytomyr.
When are the Abu Dhabi talks?
The US-brokered trilateral talks between Ukraine and Russia are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, 10–11 November, with France also taking part.
Is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant safe?
The plant lost its external electricity supply overnight, according to the IAEA, but power was later restored, Energoatom said. The site has lost external power repeatedly during the war and relies on emergency diesel generators when it does.
