Less than three days after Donald Trump told the world that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to stop hitting each other’s power systems, Ukraine woke on Wednesday to one of the heaviest assaults on its grid in months. By President Volodymyr Zelensky’s count, 600,000 Ukrainians or more were left in the dark as missiles and drones slammed into what he called “critical” energy sites in and around the capital and in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city.
The overnight raids claimed no fewer than six lives nationwide. In Kyiv, rescuers reported two dead in a damaged apartment block in the Desnianskyi district and a third in Golosiivsky. The Dnipropetrovsk region counted two fatalities and six injured, and one person was killed in Zaporizhzhia. Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged residents to stay underground, while DTEK, the largest private power company, cut supply to several districts on an emergency basis.
The air force figures explain why the damage was so severe. Of 128 attack drones, crews intercepted 115 – yet just four out of 39 incoming missiles, a mix of ballistic and cruise types, were stopped. For the second night running, missiles got through to the capital.
Moscow did not hide its intent. Its defence ministry boasted of a “massive” strike on energy and communications sites it said served Ukraine’s army, naming two heat and power stations in Kyiv, two more in the region, a substation, plants around Kharkiv and a data centre. Zelensky called the attack a deliberate violation of the truce Washington had proclaimed. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had already said Ukraine did not merit any “respite”.
Ukrainian units faced a second, quieter setback. Presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said SpaceX had, without notice, throttled Starlink terminals moving faster than roughly 160 km/h, wrecking several combat missions. No explanation came from Elon Musk’s firm. Russia, for its part, claimed to have downed 902 Ukrainian drones over its territory during the same night.
