At least 600,000 people across Ukraine have no electricity after Russian missile and drone strikes overnight, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Kyiv, the surrounding region and Kharkiv took the hits. In Kyiv, at least three people were killed and 21 injured, Ukraine's state emergencies service DSNS reported.
Those who lose heat and light first have nowhere else to go. Kyiv alone is home to about three million people, and its energy infrastructure remains a key target in an intensifying campaign of missile and drone attacks. The war is now in its fifth year of the conflict, and Moscow controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.
The Strikes
Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 39 ballistic and cruise missiles and 128 drones overnight. Ukrainian forces shot down four missiles and 115 drones. Zelensky put the damage at 26 electricity facilities and four oil and gas installations. Russia's defence ministry said its "massive" strikes targeted communications and energy facilities used by Ukraine's military. It also said Russian forces shot down 902 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, including Moscow and Crimea.
A separate ballistic missile hit Kyiv's CHP-4 power plant on Tuesday evening. Zelensky said Ukraine got no advance warning from Western allies. "A Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv. Once again, no early warning from our partners," he wrote on Facebook. "The main target was energy infrastructure, specifically the CHP-4. Unfortunately, it was hit."
That attack also struck a residential building in the Desnianskyi district. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least two people were killed and around 20 wounded. Zelensky said partners had again failed to warn Ukraine ahead of ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv, making it the second consecutive night without a warning. "This is absolutely unjust: when they are destroying our infrastructure, and Ukraine is not even receiving early warnings about ballistic missile launches," he said.
A Ceasefire Announced on Social Media
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump announced an "energy ceasefire" on Truth Social. "Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!" he wrote. The strikes came regardless.
Zelensky says Ukraine is ready to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries if Moscow does the same. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ukraine doesn't deserve the "respite" a ceasefire would bring, adding that Europe would be able to "pump [Ukraine] with new weapons" under any truce. On Saturday, Trump suggested it was "time for Ukraine to get a new president."
Who Controls the Lifelines
Ukraine depends heavily on Western intelligence, especially from the US, to detect incoming attacks. Ukrainian forces also reported that SpaceX restricted military use of its Starlink system overnight. Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelensky on military technology, said the speed limit came without notice. "Our defence forces did not receive a warning about this limitation and this led to the disruption of several missions," he wrote on Telegram.
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of SpaceX, wrote on X on Saturday: "Zelenskyy has gone too far." No independent evidence shows that the White House ordered the change, and nobody has established a connection between the restrictions and the diplomatic dispute. The reported restrictions have raised concerns that access to American satellite communications could become another source of leverage over Kyiv. Washington has denied suspending intelligence-sharing, and Ukrainian officials say cooperation continues.
Zelensky has appealed for tougher sanctions on Russia and more Patriot interceptors. "We ask America and EVERYONE in the world who does not turn a blind eye to reality to respond and to respond forcefully," he wrote.
The Border Question
When the grid fails, people move. The base reporting gives no displacement figures for this attack, but 600,000 people without power is the kind of pressure that pushes civilians toward the Polish and Romanian borders. How Europe receives them is already known: Ukrainians were granted temporary protection immediately, while Syrians, Afghans and Eritreans fleeing wars of their own meet pushbacks and detention. Whatever protection exists for people leaving Kyiv this winter was withheld from others for the same reason they leave: bombs, cold and no way to stay.