Russia carried out a large overnight missile and drone attack on Ukraine into Saturday, triggering air-raid warnings across the country as Ukraine observed Armed Forces Day. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said at least eight people were wounded in the attacks, including at least three in the Kyiv region.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia deployed 653 drones and 51 missiles in the assault. Ukrainian forces intercepted or neutralised 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force said, while 29 sites were hit. Drone activity was reported as far west as Lviv.
The national grid operator Ukrenergo said power stations and other energy infrastructure across multiple regions were targeted. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power; the plant, which is under Russian control and not operating, still requires reliable electricity to cool six shutdown reactors and stored fuel, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said energy facilities were the principal targets and said a drone strike destroyed the Fastiv train station in the Kyiv region. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its own air defences shot down 116 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory during the same period.
Separately, the Russian Telegram channel Astra released footage it said showed a fire at the Ryazan oil refinery following a Ukrainian strike; the Associated Press could not verify the video. Ryazan regional governor Pavel Malkov reported damage to a residential building and drone debris found on the grounds of an industrial site but did not explicitly confirm damage to the refinery. Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russian refineries are aimed at reducing Moscow’s oil export revenue that helps fund the war.
The barrage coincided with talks in Florida involving US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov on a possible security framework for a postwar Ukraine. The delegation said the discussions had advanced but stressed that any real agreement would depend on Russia’s willingness to commit to lasting peace.
Ukrainian officials and Western allies have accused Russia of trying to cripple Ukraine’s power grid to deprive civilians of heat, light and running water during a fourth consecutive winter — a tactic Kyiv describes as the “weaponising” of cold.
