Russia strikes Kyiv energy infrastructure, kills 3, injures 6 in overnight attack on Ukraine’s capital

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Russia struck Kyiv’s energy infrastructure overnight in a renewed push against Ukraine’s power system as fall sets in — an assault Ukrainians have feared since last winter’s devastating attacks on the power grid.

“Since the summer, there has been practically no day when the enemy has not attacked energy infrastructure. But such a massive and combined attack has occurred for the first time since the end of the last heating season,” Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said.

Ukraine’s biggest private energy firm, DTEK, said that Russia’s overnight attack damaged energy infrastructure. They restored energy to 8,000 customers on Kyiv’s left bank, and emergency crews continue to operate, DTEK added.

State-owned grid operator Ukrenergo also said there were power outages in Kyiv and Kyiv region, alongside other regions, and advised residents to postpone the use of powerful electical aplliances.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the capital’s energy infrastructure was the main target of the Russian attacks.

“Each interceptor missile really saves lives. And the closer to winter, the more such protection is needed. We must do everything to ensure that Russia’s bet on ballistic and drone terror does not play out,” he said.

The Trypilska Thermal Power Plant in Kyiv Oblast was also damaged in the Russian attack, state-owned power producer Centrenergo confirmed on Sept. 30. The company said generating equipment at the plant had been damaged but did not disclose further details, citing security concerns.

“Our first priority now is to assess the condition of the equipment and determine the scope of the necessary work,” Centrenergo CEO Serhii Isachenko said. “As soon as the security situation allows, our specialists will begin repairs.”

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that two women were killed in the Sviatoshynskyi district of Kyiv where a dozen homes were damaged amid the attack.

A third person was killed in Solomiansky district, after a warehouse was damaged by the Russian attack, the Kyiv City Military Administration (KMDA) said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko further confirmed that six people were injured in the overnight attacks on the capital.

The latest strikes came as Russia intensifies its attacks on Kyiv since August, relentlessly launching drone attacks, even in daytime, to exhaust the Ukrainian air defense. Recently, Russia has shifted tactics to target the Ukrainian capital with days-long consecutive attacks.

The air raid alert for Kyiv lasted a total 12 hours and 44 minutes.

Over a dozen explosions rocked the city shortly before 3 a.m. local time, journalists on the ground said. The explosions came minutes after Ukraine’s Air Force warned ballistic missiles were headed towards the city, as sounds of air defense fire were heard throughout the city. Additional explosions were later heard around 3:40 a.m. local time.

An unspecified “non-residential building” and a warehouse caught fire in the Podilskyi district, officials said. A power outage was also reported by journalists on the ground in the city’s Pechersk district.

In Shevchenkivskyi district, debris fell onto the territory of an unspecified western embassy, Klitschko said.

The State Emergency Service (DSNS) warned Kyiv residents to keep their windows closed due to the thick smoke in the air following the Russian attacks.

Just outside the capital in the neighbouring Kyiv Oblast, at least one child was found killed under the rubble of a home in Vyshhorod. A man and a woman also suffered injuries amid the attack.

A total of 11 vehicles and two warehouses were damaged, as well as three homes, in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said.

Russia attacked across Ukraine with 188 drones, 86 of them jet-powered, as well as with Zircon, Onyx, and Iskander missiles, according to Ukraine’s air force. The air force said it shot down or suppressed 5 missiles and 155 drones.

The full extent of the damage caused was not immediately clear.

Overnight on Sept. 29, multiple missiles and drones struck Kyiv, wounding one person, the State Emergency Service said.

On Sept. 28, Russian drones struck central Kyiv in the middle of the day, killing two and injuring 26 others. Russian drones struck non-residential buildings in Kyiv’s Obolonskyi, Solomiansky, Darnytskyi, Podil, and Shevchenkivskyi districts, Klitschko said.

In the city center, the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences building was set ablaze, while Education and Sciences Minister Andrii Butenko reported that one of the ministry’s buildings was also damaged.