Russia overnight hit more than 15 critical power-generation and transmission sites across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday. He called the wave “one of [Russia’s] largest” on the energy sector. Between 7 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday, he said, more than 320 jet- and petrol-powered Shahed drones, loitering munitions, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles were used against the grid, cities and communities.

Ukraine’s air force gave a finer count, carried by RFE/RL: 332 attack drones, 31 of them jet-powered, four Kalibr cruise missiles, plus Iskander-M or North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles and Kh-22/32 cruise missiles. Defences shot down or suppressed 293 targets, including all four Kalibrs and 289 drones. Impacts at 22 sites; debris at three more. That is Kyiv’s tally, not an admission from Moscow.

The hardest-hit places, Zelenskyy wrote, were Lutsk, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Shepetivka, Slavuta and Netishyn. Facilities in the Kharkiv, Kyiv, Dnipro and other regions were also struck. Grid operator Ukrenergo announced emergency cuts; earlier outage schedules no longer applied in the affected areas. Restoration was running “practically nonstop,” the president said.

“Russia is trying to cause a blackout in Ukraine — right before winter. Russia is trying to leave millions of our people without electricity and heating.” The campaign, he said, is meant to stretch reserves and repair crews as thin as possible. He also criticised a U.S. decision to disregard the Lindsey Graham Act, which in his reading was meant to squeeze Moscow. He asked partners for a “sanctions blackout,” not weaker support.

Regional authorities, cited by the Kyiv Independent, reported seven people killed and about 90 injured over the previous day nationwide, not only in the energy strikes. In Kherson, military-administration head Yaroslav Shanko said an air strike killed a 64-year-old ambulance driver. In Sloviansk, Donetsk region, local officials reported FAB-250 bombs on two apartment blocks.

Russia’s defence ministry, separately, claimed strikes on the ArcelorMittal plant in Kryvyi Rih, a substation in Zhytomyr, a steelworks in Zaporizhzhia and a cargo ship in the Black Sea. Those are Russian claims, not independently verified here. Winter is close; Ukraine’s grid is already worn by earlier campaigns. Crews restoring power work under the next wave.

Image: Serhii Bobok, Zmiivska thermal power plant, 22 December 2003, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. A Ukrainian plant, not the 17 October 2026 strike.

Sources consulted: Russia rains over 300 drones, missiles on Ukraine, hits 15-plus energy facilities — The Times of India; Russian Overnight Attack Kills Civilians, Targets Energy Facilities Across Ukraine — RFE/RL.