Russian Strikes Leave 600,000 Without Power in Ukraine Days After Trump Energy Ceasefire Claim

Russian missile and drone strikes overnight left at least 600,000 people without electricity across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday. The attacks hit energy infrastructure in the Kyiv region and in Kharkiv. Zelensky reported damage to 26 elements of the power system and four oil and gas facilities. In Kyiv itself at least three people were killed and 21 injured, according to the state emergency service.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 39 ballistic and cruise missiles and 128 drones. Air defences shot down four of the missiles and 115 of the drones. Russia's defence ministry said the strikes targeted communications and energy sites used by the Ukrainian military and claimed 902 Ukrainian drones were downed over Russian territory. Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, reported emergency outages in several Kyiv districts. All three of the capital's combined heat and power plants were among the targets, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said.

The barrage came three days after US President Donald Trump posted that an "ENERGY CEASEFIRE" was in effect and that both sides had agreed to stop striking energy facilities. Zelensky called the Russian action "ostentatious disrespect" toward the United States and said Ukraine had received no advance warning from Western partners about the ballistic missiles. He repeated that Ukraine is prepared to halt its own strikes on Russian refineries if Moscow does the same. Trump had lifted sanctions on Russian diesel last week in an effort to ease US fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections.

Ukrenergo, the state transmission operator, listed rolling blackouts in Kyiv and in the Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytskyi and Zaporizhzhia regions. Schedules allow outages of up to eight hours a day. Engineers began repairs where it was safe. The low interception rate against ballistic missiles reflects the shortage of interceptors that Ukrainian officials have described for months. Russia has increased strikes on energy sites as winter approaches, while Ukraine has continued attacks on Russian oil infrastructure.

Casualty figures and the exact number of facilities hit may still rise as assessments continue. For the immediate period the verified outcomes are the three deaths in Kyiv, the 600,000 without power, the 30 damaged energy and fuel sites, and the gap between the Sunday ceasefire claim and the Wednesday strikes.