Massive Russian Bombardment Causes Blackouts in Ukraine
Damage from a Russian strike on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine. dolzhenko/epa/shutterstock/Shutterstock
By Matthew Luxmoore and Laurence Norman, The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 10, 2025 9:46 am ET; see also, which notes: "Voytsitska, the energy expert, said the war had entered a new phase: “The war of attrition on the battlefield” was now “a war of attrition against the population.”
KYIV, Ukraine—Russia launched a massive drone and missile barrage targeting energy infastructure in Ukraine on Friday, causing blackouts in the capital and killing at least one civilian. The strikes portend a tough winter ahead for Ukraine, as Russia aims to make life harder for Ukrainians and sap their morale.
The salvo overnight into Friday included 465 drones and 32 missiles, of which Ukraine shot down 406 drones and 15 missiles, according to its air force. The weapons that penetrated Ukraine’s air defenses caused substantial damage to critical power infrastructure, also killing a 7-year-old child and wounding dozens of civilians, officials said.
Authorities announced a partial suspension of power supplies to almost a dozen regions, to facilitate work to stabilize the network. In Kyiv, there was no water in parts of the city center and outlying districts on Friday, with restaurants and hotels running a reduced service and many schools in the city sending students home. The postal service warned of severe delays in deliveries.
Ukrainian officials called on its allies for tougher sanctions against Russia after the strikes, with the aim of bringing Moscow to the negotiating table and securing an end to the war.
“What’s needed is not window dressing but decisive action—from the United States, Europe, and the G7—in delivering air defense systems and enforcing sanctions,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social-media post, referring to the Group of Seven advanced economies.
Maxim Timchenko, chief executive of DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private-energy supplier, said Friday’s barrage was the fourth attack this week against the company’s facilities in Ukraine. He said engineers were working to repair damaged equipment and resume stable power supplies. “DTEK will do everything possible to defend Ukraine’s energy system this winter,” he said on X.
Ukraine’s power grid has weathered three winters of Russian bombardment, during which engineers patched up substations under missile and drone fire and civilians spent hours in the cold and dark, relying on scant generators for heat, and often candles for light.
In recent months Ukraine has stepped up its own attacks against Russian energy facilities, launching dozens of long-range drones that have damaged major sites inside Russia. Zelensky on Thursday said that Kyiv’s strikes may have reduced Russia’s gasoline supplies by up to a fifth, crippling its ability to export one of its primary commodities.
“This is absolutely fair that Ukraine strikes back with precise, targeted attacks, and unlike Russia, we know exactly what we aim to achieve,” he said.
His comments came days after Russia struck gas extraction and processing facilities in two Ukrainian regions, in what officials in Kyiv said was the biggest such strike in more than three years of war.
Ukraine has sought to prevent another harsh winter as a result of Russia’s attacks, bringing online a network of massive, U.S.-designed batteries that are held at top-secret locations and designed to help keep the lights on. The battery parks can supply around two hours of energy to roughly 600,000 homes, offering an alternative source of power even when the grid comes under attack.
But the scale of Russia’s aerial attacks in recent months has made it difficult for Ukraine to respond, and reduced its supplies of precious air-defense interceptors.
Ambassadors from G-7 countries met with Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Grinchuk for urgent consultations about the strikes and further potential support for Ukraine.
The attacks came after the United Nations atomic agency said that a plan was in place to repair the electricity lines to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, once Europe’s largest nuclear power facility, which has been in shutdown mode for two years. The plant is close to one part of the front lines.
The Zaporizhzhia plant has been without externally supplied power since Sept. 23, relying on 20 emergency diesel generators to power its cooling pumps. These prevent nuclear waste and nuclear fuel in the reactors from heating up and causing radiation leakage.
After weeks of discussion, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to create the conditions to allow repair work that could reconnect the plant to two power lines that are supposed to power the facility. The power lines are located on opposite sides of the nearby front line.
The IAEA said there has been no temperature increase in the pools where spent nuclear fuel is kept, indicating that the cooling systems are continuing to operate normally for now. Radiation levels at the site were reported to be normal earlier this week by a small team of IAEA staff who reside at the plant.
Grossi said that, while it would take time for the plant’s grid connection to be restored, “the two sides have engaged with us in a constructive way to achieve this important objective for the sake of nuclear safety and security. No one stands to gain from a further deterioration in this regard.”
Write to Matthew Luxmoore at matthew.luxmoore@wsj.com and Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com
JB: The above article evidently had different editions. The one here reflects one of them.
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