Russian strikes leave thousands without power in Ukraine, says Zelenskyy

Russian strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure have left thousands of households without electricity, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday.

“Overnight alone, our energy infrastructure came under Russian attack in four regions: Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, and Khmelnytskyi. Substations, transformers, and power lines that supply electricity to our people’s homes were targeted, Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

“As of now, hundreds of thousands of families remain without power,” he added, noting that the “intensity of the strikes is extremely high.”

Zelenskyy’s comments came as Russian authorities reported a “massive” Ukrainian drone strike overnight on an industrial facility in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

“A massive drone attack occurred overnight and this morning in the Nizhny Novgorod region: more than a hundred drones were destroyed,” Gleb Nikitin, the region’s governor, wrote on Telegram on Sunday.

“According to preliminary reports, there were no casualties,” he said, adding that an industrial facility in the Kstovsky district sustained “significant damage.”

“During the restoration process, temporary power outages and reduced hot water and heating services are possible in certain sections of the utility networks supplying residential buildings,” he wrote.

Nikitin did not specify which industrial facility had been attacked. The NORSI oil refinery is located in the region.

On Friday, the local governor of Russia’s Samara region blamed Ukraine for an early morning drone attack that struck an oil refinery in Novokuibyshevsk city.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Kyiv agreed to pause strikes on Russian oil refineries until after the U.S. midterm elections on Nov. 3 under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Ukraine paused drone strikes on Russian oil refineries for 72 hours when Trump announced an energy ceasefire in October, but the Kremlin continued to bombard Ukrainian energy infrastructure.