The biggest blow
Ukrainian officials reported a severe strike on the country’s power grid, calling it the most significant attack in recent memory. Early assessments indicate that multiple targets across central and western Ukraine were hit, including areas near Kyiv and Kharkiv, along with regions such as Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih, as well as several other districts. The disruption left communities without electricity and, in some places, with water shortages. Local authorities issued coordinates for what they described as “indestructibility points” where essential goods remain available.
In Kharkiv, the regional military administration noted more than 15 strikes on energy facilities within a span of roughly 40 minutes in the early morning. The city experienced a near-total power outage, with emergency services mobilized to respond. Roughly 700,000 residents were reported as without electricity, and several neighborhoods including Udy, Cossack Lopan, Zapadnoye, Stepnaya Novoselovka, Kotlyarovka, Baranovka and Sinkovka faced outages. Local channels confirmed that the Kharkiv railway station lost power, and water supply systems encountered interruptions as pumping stations halted due to the outage. Electric public transport was temporarily suspended, though buses were rerouted to restore some mobility.
State agencies indicated that damage extended to key facilities, including a major transport plant and two thermal power stations. Social feeds referenced interruptions to Internet and mobile services in the city, compounding the challenge for responders and residents alike.
Ukrainian officials described the incident as the largest blow to the energy sector in recent years. The energy minister emphasized that generation facilities, transmission lines and distribution networks sustained damage, resulting in power outages in several regions while repair teams moved quickly to restore service. Across the country, authorities coordinated efforts to bring priority systems back online and to minimize risk to critical infrastructure.
In Kryvyi Rih, the city’s defense council head confirmed damage to critical infrastructure, urging residents to stock up on water, keep devices charged and prepare portable power sources. Emergency shutdown schemes were activated, with hospitals and other essential facilities shifting to generators where possible to maintain operations.
Regional administrations—Sumy, Konotop and Shostka—implemented temporary emergency measures in affected settlements to stabilize utilities and security. In Lviv, the regional head reported the destruction of an energy facility near the city of Stryi following a drone incident, noting that the region would not face planned power outages at that time. Similar damage was noted in Khmelnytskyi.
On the Zaporizhzhia front, the regional military administration announced that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant faced a renewed risk of blackout. The external power line to the station was shut, forcing its connection to the wider grid through an alternative transmission route recently rehabilitated by Ukrainian engineers. The head of Energoatom described the situation as extremely dangerous, warning that losing the remaining lines could trigger a plant outage and potentially create radiation and safety risks. Since the recent conflict began, the plant has experienced several outages, with safety generators activated as needed. Current indications suggested all units were shut down with some in cold or hot stop statuses, while radiation readings remained within normal limits and did not exceed natural background levels.
Two direct hits were reported at the Dnieper hydroelectric power complex, leading to a shutdown of the largest hydroelectric facility in the country. Officials described the situation at GES-1 and GES-2 as severe, with structural damage to crane beams and the need for extensive repair work to restore valve operations and water management. Despite the damage, there was no immediate danger of dam failure, and teams continued to work on stabilizing the installation.
In parallel, a legislative figure from a neighboring country suggested retaliation against Ukrainian energy facilities in response to actions by the Ukrainian side. The comments framed the conflict in terms of ongoing cycles of escalation, with calls for a strong response tied to broader regional tensions. Respondents emphasized that such rhetoric underscores the fragile state of critical infrastructure and the enduring risk to civilian life in wartime conditions, even as authorities pursue safety and restoration efforts across the affected zones.