Power has been restored to 270,000 consumers in Kyiv after Russian overnight attacks plunged parts of the capital into darkness, Ukraine’s energy minister, Svitlana Hrynchuk, said on Friday. Writing on Facebook, she confirmed that electricity had been reconnected following a vast assault that targeted the country’s energy infrastructure.
Kyiv residents reported hearing blasts throughout the night, and many woke up without power. The attack was described by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a country-wide strike, with Russia using more than 450 drones and 30 missiles aimed at the energy sector. Zelenskyy said outages had been recorded across nine regions, and he renewed his call for international support with air defence systems and stronger sanctions enforcement.
Elsewhere, Russian drones and missiles damaged 12 apartment buildings in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, killing a seven-year-old boy and injuring four people, according to the regional governor. Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said 12 people had been injured in the capital, with eight taken to hospital.
The scale of the attack underscores the continued vulnerability of Ukraine’s energy grid as winter approaches, with officials urging Western partners to accelerate deliveries of air defence equipment.
