Zürcher Nachrichten - 'Cynical' Russian attack batters Ukraine energy grid, kills 7-year-old

The Russian barrage of hundreds of drones and nearly three dozen missiles disrupted power supplies in nine regions of Ukraine and plunged entire districts of Kyiv into darkness.

AFP journalists in the capital heard several powerful explosions overnight and experienced blackouts and water supply disruptions in quarters of the city.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia's latest barrage on energy facilities was a "cynical and calculated attack", and urged allies to respond with concrete measures.

"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," he said in a statement on X.

The Kremlin has escalated aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities and rail systems over recent weeks, escalating earlier bombing campaigns it carried out over the previous three winters that left people without heating in frigid temperatures.

The Ukrainian air force said the overnight Russian barrage comprised of 465 drones and 32 missiles, adding that its air defence systems downed 405 drones and 15 missiles.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the strikes.

Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said Russian forces had targeted "critical infrastructure" and that the eastern part of the capital was left without power and that water supplies were also disrupted.

Ukrainian police said some 29 people had been wounded in Kyiv and other regions.

Russia also hit the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, killing a seven-year-old boy, according to Ivan Fedorov, the head of the regional military administration.

- Frontline evacuations -

The attacks caused outages to a "significant number of customers" mainly in the centre and the east of the country, the energy ministry said, without giving figures.

"This was one of the largest concentrated strikes against energy facilities," Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.

The energy ministry said repairs had begun, but also imposed restrictions in several regions to reduce pressure on the grid.

Russian attacks this year have already strained Ukrainian gas infrastructure, Kyiv said, and more strikes could force the country to ramp up imports.

A Ukrainian delegation led by Svyrydenko is expected to visit the United States early next week to discuss, among other topics, energy and air defense under intensifying Russian strikes.

DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, that supplies Kyiv and eastern regions said in a statement that facilities of its thermal power plants had been "seriously damaged," without providing details.

The foreign ministry meanwhile said the overnight attack fell on the third anniversary of Russia's first large-scale attack on energy facilities, months after Moscow invaded in February 2022.

Efforts spearheaded by US President Donald Trump to end the three-and-a-half year war have dimmed as a series of direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations this year ended.

Trump said Thursday that Washington and NATO allies were "stepping up the pressure" to end the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin said that momentum towards reaching a peace deal had largely vanished.

Citing a recent uptick in Russian drone attacks, Ukrainian authorities ordered the evacuation of children and their guardians from Kramatorsk, the largest civilian hub in the Donetsk region still under Kyiv's control.

Ukrainian authorities said Russia is increasingly deploying small, cheap first-person-view drones that have dramatically changed the character of fighting across the sprawling front line over recent months.

In Sloviansk, another Donetsk-region city under Ukrainian control, the mayor this week urged children and elderly residents to leave, citing attacks on the energy system.

Ukraine has also stepped up its drone and missile strikes on Russian territory, a tactic that Zelensky said was showing "results" and pushing up fuel prices in Russia.

A Ukrainian hit on a power station in the Russian border region of Belgorod also caused power outages.

W.F.Portman--NZN