Russia strikes Ukraine's power grid, leaving hundreds of thousands without power in freezing weather

2026-01-13 15:00:26, Kosova & Bota CNA

Russia strikes Ukraine's power grid, leaving hundreds of thousands without

Russia has carried out a major overnight attack against Ukraine, hitting vital energy facilities, including a power plant, at a time when temperatures across the country fell to minus 15 degrees.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that Russia used nearly 300 attack drones, as well as 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles.

"The situation in the Kyiv region is serious. Several hundred thousand families are without electricity now ," Zelensky said in a post on X.

Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed that it had carried out a "major attack" on Ukrainian energy facilities, claiming they were used by the Ukrainian military and its military-industrial complex.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha accused Russia of deliberately striking energy infrastructure to deprive civilians of electricity, water and heating in freezing weather conditions.

“Russia is deliberately attempting to create conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Ukrainian people,” he wrote in X, adding that such an action falls within the definition of Article II(c) of the Genocide Convention.

Ukraine's main private energy supplier, DTEK, reported that Russian missiles hit a power plant overnight. This was the eighth major attack on its facilities since October 2025.

The state-owned energy operator, Ukrenergo, announced on January 13 that the Russian missile and drone attack targeted energy facilities in several regions, leaving many customers without electricity in Kiev and the Kiev region, as well as in the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.

He added that work to repair and restore supply has begun wherever security conditions allow.

The regional governor reported that a Russian attack in the Kharkiv region killed four people and injured several others.

"The number of people killed in the enemy attack on the outskirts of Kharkiv has reached four ," Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a Russian drone hit a children's medical facility, causing a fire.

The overnight attacks also hit other Ukrainian regions, including the southern city of Odessa.

The regional governor, Serhiy Lysak, said that residential buildings, a hospital, a school and a kindergarten were damaged — and at least five people were injured in two waves of attacks.

Moscow has repeatedly claimed that it is not targeting Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.

Data shows that Russian forces intensified attacks on Ukraine's energy and gas infrastructure in early fall 2025, disrupting supplies during the heating season. /REL