KYIV, Ukraine — Russia unleashed one of its largest overnight attacks on Ukraine in months, firing more than 450 drones and 45 missiles that killed at least three people and caused widespread damage to power infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
Two people were killed and at least 12 injured in the central city of Dnipro when a drone slammed into an apartment building, local authorities reported.
Another person died in the Kharkiv region amid what officials described as “relentless strikes” targeting energy facilities.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said key energy infrastructure in the Kyiv, Poltava, and Kharkiv regions had been severely damaged, disrupting electricity, water and heating services as winter approaches.
In the central Poltava region, the cities of Kremenchuk and Horishni Plavni were left without power and had to rely on generators for water supply, local officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attacks and called for tougher international sanctions on Moscow’s energy exports.
“For every Moscow strike on energy infrastructure — aimed at harming ordinary people before winter — there must be a sanctions response targeting all Russian energy, with no exceptions,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 406 drones and nine missiles, but 26 missiles and 52 drones hit 25 sites, including several critical energy facilities.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it carried out a “massive strike with high-precision long-range weapons” targeting Ukraine’s weapons production and energy systems.
Moscow claimed the assault was in retaliation for Kyiv’s own drone attacks on Russian oil infrastructure.
The assault marks an escalation in Russia’s months-long campaign against Ukraine’s power grid, which officials say aims to cripple the country’s energy capacity before the onset of winter.
State energy firm Naftogaz said gas facilities have been attacked nine times in the past two months.
As the war nears its fourth year, fighting remains fierce around Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, where Russia says its troops have advanced and captured a small village.
Ukraine has stepped up cross-border drone strikes targeting Russian oil facilities in recent weeks in an attempt to weaken Moscow’s war financing.
Svyrydenko said the government and utility companies were working “around the clock” to restore damaged power and water systems.
