By Olena Harmash
KYIV, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Russia launched a massive air attack on Ukrainian energy facilities overnight on Saturday, targeting electricity generation and distribution, Kyiv said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the overnight attack involved more than 400 drones and some 40 missiles of various types, targeting the grid, generation facilities and distribution substations.
Nearly four years into the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour, Ukraine’s battered energy sector is crumbling under the Russian strikes, accumulated wartime damage and bitterly cold winter weather.
RUSSIA CHOOSES STRIKES OVER DIPLOMACY, ZELENSKIY SAYS
“Every day, Russia could choose real diplomacy, but it chooses new strikes,” Zelenskiy posted on X. “It is crucial that everyone who supports the trilateral negotiations respond to this. Moscow must be deprived of the ability to use the cold as leverage against Ukraine.”
Moscow did not immediately comment on the attacks.
Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said the strikes hit two thermal power stations in Ukraine’s western regions and core elements of the Ukrainian electricity distribution system – substations and key electricity distribution lines.
“Russian criminals carried out another massive attack on Ukraine’s energy facilities,” Shmyhal said on the Telegram app. “Energy workers are ready to start repair works as soon as the security situation allows.”
The strikes were launched as temperatures began to drop and are forecast to fall to minus 14 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) in the coming days.
The new Russian attacks on the energy system also come just days after the latest round of the U.S.-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia on how to end the war.
Despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and rounds of talks, diplomatic efforts have so far brought no tangible results.
INTENSIFIED RUSSIAN ATTACKS ON UKRAINIAN POWER SECTOR
Since autumn 2025, Moscow has intensified its attacks on the Ukrainian power grid and other energy infrastructure, forcing frequent blackouts across Ukraine and plunging millions into darkness for hours.
Ukrainian officials said that emergency power cuts were introduced across the country. Shmyhal said the government asked Poland for emergency power imports to help the Ukrainian grid.
Regional officials reported attacks across the country, including in the western regions of Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv.
The Burshtyn and Dobrotvir thermal power plants in western Ukraine were hit, officials said.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said that equipment was damaged significantly at its thermal power plants in different regions. DTEK said it was the 10th attack on its thermal power stations since October 2025.
“Since Russians have been targeting energy facilities in various regions of our country, power outages may last much longer,” said Maksym Kozytskyi, the Lviv regional governor.
He said air alerts lasted more than six hours in the western Lviv region, close to the Polish border.
Polish authorities said two airports in southeastern Poland were suspended from operations as a precaution due to Russian strikes on nearby Ukrainian territory. The airports in Poland later resumed operations.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by)
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